Sabit Damolla | |
|---|---|
 Sabit Damolla in his 20s-30s | |
| Prime Minister of theTurkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan | |
| In office 12 November 1933 – 16 April 1934 | |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 1883 |
| Died | July, 1934[1] |
| Party |  Committee for National Revolution/ East Turkistan Nationalist Party[3] |
Sabit Damolla (Uyghur:سابىت داموللا;Chinese:沙比提大毛拉·阿不都爾巴克; June 1883 – 1934)[4] was anEast Turkestan independence leader who led theHotan rebellion against theXinjiang Province government ofJin Shuren and later the Uyghur leaderKhoja Niyaz. He is widely known as the first and only prime minister of the short-livedTurkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan from November 12, 1933, until the republic's defeat in April 16, 1934.
Sabit Damolla Abdulbaqi was born in 1883, in county ofAtush (Artux) in theKashgar vilayet, where he received religious education. In the 1920s, he graduated from Xinjiang Academy of Politics and Laws inÜrümqi (later becomingXinjiang University), that was founded by GovernorYang Zengxin in 1924 and originally performed courses in Russian, Chinese and Uyghur. After completing university, he visited theMiddle East, touring Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt; he also visited theSoviet Union, where he continued his studies. In 1932 he returned to Xinjiang through India, where he joinedEmirMuhammad Amin Bughra in preparing a rebellion inKhotan district. Sabit Damulla was convinced that theIslamic world was not interested in supportingUyghur independence, and so he turned to theGreat Powers instead. Yang Zengxin had closed the publishing venture inArtush owned by Sabit Damulla.[5] Sabit was aJadidist.[6]
Between November 12, 1933, and April 6, 1934, he was selected the prime minister of the short-livedTurkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan (TIRET) in Kashgar. Sabit Damulla was also behind a creation of Independent Government in Khotan on March 16, 1933, which he proclaimed together with Emir Muhammad Amin Bughra. Later this Government expanded its authority to Kashgar andAksu through the "Eastern Turkestan Independence Association" and contributed to the proclamation of a republic in the Old City of Kashgar on November 12, 1933.Khoja Niyaz, the leader ofKumul Rebellion in 1931, was invited by Sabit Damulla to Kashgar to assume presidency of the self- proclaimed Republic.
Contemporary sources say that Abdulbaki was captured by Khoja Niyaz nearAksu in late April 1934, then delivered to GovernorSheng Shicai.He was executed reportedly by hanging in July 1934 inAksu. Previously, in early April 1934, being in his native village ofArtush Sabit Damulla rejected several urgent offers fromMa Zhongying to return toKashgar and form a military alliance against advancing common enemies: Soviet backed Governor Sheng Shicai and Khoja Niyaz. Later sources allege that he was imprisoned by Sheng in Urumchi, where he traded his translation skills for better conditions in his cell. FellowChinese Muslims such asKuomintang officer Liu Bin-Di provided him with theQuran and other Arabic and Chinese Islamic texts to be translated intoUyghur (The establishment of Islam in China in 650 stemmed from the delivery of a Quran byCaliphUsman toTangEmperor Gaozong in 650 through EnvoySa'ad ibn Abi Waqqas, one ofMuhammad's first companions). Liu had been dispatched from Urumchi to pacify the Hi (Ili) region in 1944, but he was too late.[7] It is unknown if this job was finished, Liu Bin-Di himself was shot dead by rebels inGhulja in November 1944 during revolt, that led to the establishment ofSecond East Turkestan Republic on November 12, 1944.
