Isa Yusuf Alptekin | |
|---|---|
ئەيسا يۈسۈپ ئالپتېكىن | |
 Alpektinc. 1948 | |
| Senior Advisor of the Border Affairs Department of theMinistry of National Defense of theRepublic of China | |
| In office 1932–1949 | |
| Member of theLegislative Yuan forXinjiang Province | |
| In office 1936–1949 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1901 (1901) |
| Died | 1995 (aged 93–94) |
| Relatives | Erkin Alptekin (son) |
| Profession | Politician |
| Isa Alptekin | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uyghur name | |||||||||
| Uyghur | ئەيسا يۈسۈپ ئالپتېكىن | ||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 艾薩·玉素甫·阿布甫泰肯 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 艾萨·玉素甫·阿布甫泰肯 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Turkish name | |||||||||
| Turkish | İsa Yusuf Alptekin | ||||||||
Isa Yusuf Alptekin (Uyghur:ئەيسا يۈسۈپ ئالپتېكىن; 1901 – 17 December 1995) was anUyghur politician who served in the ChineseNationalist government and opposed both theFirst East Turkistan Republic[1] and theSecond East Turkestan Republic.[2][3] WhenXinjiang came under Chinese communist control in 1949, Alptekin went into exile and became anultra-nationalist andpan-Turkicseparatist.
He was born in 1901 inYengisar County,Kashgar,Qing dynasty. Aliptekin began his political career working as a translator and interpreter at the Chinese consulate in Andijan from 1926 to 1928.[4] While working inAndijan, Alptekin met with Uyghur merchants who sought his counsel on whether to agree with Soviet plans to arm Uyghurs and liberate East Turkistan from Chinese control. Alptekin immediately notified the Chinese consul of the plot.[5] In 1928, Aliptekin was praised for his work and tasked with escorting a Chinese diplomat who had fallen very ill (Peking).[6] In the fall of 1928, Alptekin was posted toTashkent where he worked as a lackey, interpreter, and translator for the Chinese consul until May 1932.[7] In 1932, Alptekin was sent toNanjing and was appointed as an advisor in the Republic of China's Defense Ministry's Border Affairs Department.[8]
Alptekin opposed theFirst East Turkestan Republic which existed in Kashgar from November 12, 1933 to April 16, 1934. In Nanjing, under the direction of the Chinese government, Alptekin's "Chini Turkistan Avazi" journal accused the British government of organizing a revolt in East Turkistan in a bid to seize it.[9] Initially, the republic was named the "Turkic Islamic Republic of East Turkestan" (TIRET), representing the multi-national staff of its government, which included Uyghurs,Kazakhs, andKyrgyz. Its anti-Hui, anti-Han, and anti-communist policies were declared in itsdeclaration of independence, its basicIslamic principles, and its constitution. On September 18, 1936, Aliptekin was "elected" as a member of the Chinese National Assembly (Legislative Yuan).[10]
He stayed in Nanjing and then fled toChongqing with the Chinese government when theEmpire of Japaninvaded. He lived there along with several other Uyghurs such asMasud Sabri. In order to gain sympathy for theChinese War against Japan, the countries ofEgypt,Syria, andTurkey were visited by Hui Muslim Ma Fuliang (馬賦良) and Uyghur Muslim Isa Yusuf Alptekin in 1939. They contactedMuhammad Amin Bughra when they also went toAfghanistan in 1940, asking him to come toChongqing, the capital of theKuomintang regime. The Kuomintang arranged for Bughra's release after the British had arrested Bughra for spying. Kuomintang Muslim publications used Isa and Bughra as editors.[11]
The bombardment of Chinese Muslims by the warplanes of the Japanese was reported in the newspapers of Syria. Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon were all toured by the delegation. The Foreign Minister, Prime Minister, and President of Turkey met with the Chinese Muslim delegation after they came via Egypt in May 1939. Gandhi and Jinnah met with the Hui Ma Fuliang and Uyghur Isa Alptekin as they denounced Japan.[12]
Ma Fuxliang, Isa Alptekin, Wang Zengshan, Xue Wenbo, and Lin Zhongming all went to Egypt to denounce Japan in front of the Arab and Islamic worlds.[13] China was supported by Alptekin during the Japanese invasion.[14]
Isa returned to Xinjiang, and he opposed theSecond East Turkestan Republic in northern Xinjiang during theIli Rebellion, claiming that it was aSoviet Communist puppet state of Stalin. Instead, he worked for the ChineseKuomintang regime ofZhang Zhizhong. There were 3 Effendis, (Üch Äpändi) (ئۈچ ئەپەندى) Aisa Alptekin, Memtimin Bughra (Muhammad Amin Bughra), and Masud Sabri.[15][3] The Second East Turkestan Republic attacked them as Kuomintang "puppets".[16][17]
He askedMa Bufang on whetherChiang Kai-shek and the Chinese government would allow an independent Islamic state in southern Xinjiang to counter the Communists and the Soviet-backed Second East Turkestan Republic, but Ma Bufang did not bother with this request. Instead, Ma fled in anAmericanCIA airplane with several million dollars ingold as theChinese Red Army approachedQinghai. Ma then fled to theKuomintang-controlled island ofTaiwan, then to Egypt.
Alptekin fled after theCommunist takeover of Xinjiang through theHimalayas, reachingLadakh in Indian-controlledKashmir and going into exile in Turkey. In 1954, he and Muhammad Amin Bughra went to Taiwan to try to persuade the Kuomintang government of theRepublic of China to drop its claims to Xinjiang. Their demand was rejected and Taiwan affirmed that it claimed Xinjiang as "an integral part of China".[18]
Members of theUS Congress met with Alptekin in 1970.[19] Alptekin met with the ultra-nationalist Pan-Turkic leaderAlparslan Türkeş.[20][21][22][23][24][25] Themarriages between Muslim (Uyghur) women and Han Chinese men infuriated him.[26]Anti-Soviet sentiment was espoused by Isa while pro-Soviet sentiment was espoused byBurhan. The Soviets were angered by Isa.[27] Alptekin also voicedanti-Armenian rhetoric while he was in Turkey and claimed that innocent Turkish Muslims were massacred byArmenians.[28][29][30][31][32]
Isa Yusuf Alptekin was the father ofErkin Alptekin. During Alptekin's exile in Turkey, where he received great support fromPan-Turkic elements in theGovernment of Turkey, the PRC government denounced him for continuing his "Xinjiang independence activities", and for trying to overthrow the "socialist system". When he died there in 1995, over a thousand people[33] allegedly attended his funeral, and he was buried in Topkapı Cemetery, next to the mausoleums of two former Turkish leaders,Adnan Menderes andTurgut Özal.[34][35] In 1995, a park was dedicated to Alptekin in theBlue Mosque section inIstanbul, along with a memorial formartyrs of the lateEast Turkestan Independence Movement. The high-profile nature of the dedication, including the attendance of the Turkish President, Prime Minister, chairman of parliament, and others, enraged China. It denounced Turkey for meddling in its 'internal affairs', and the Turkish state department requested the closing of the park, but domestic constituencies refused.[36][37]
Several Uyghur intellectuals regard Isa Alpetekin as a traitor to the national cause, such asGeneral Mahmut Muhiti who expressed his disdain for Alptekin in his 1938 letter published inYash Turkistan (Young Turkestan) newspaper.
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| Other | |
