Dalelkhan Sugirbayev | |
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| Born | (1906-06-24)June 24, 1906 Kobdo Territory,Outer Mongolia,Qing Empire (nowBayan-Ölgii Province,Mongolia) |
| Died | August 27, 1949(1949-08-27) (aged 43) Kabansk,Kabansky District,Buryat-Mongolian ASSR,Russian SFSR,USSR (nowBuryatia,Russia) |
| Allegiance | Republic of China Second East Turkestan Republic |
| Battles / wars | Ili Rebellion Chinese Civil War |
Dalelkhan Sugirbayev, alsoDālil Khan,Delilhan,Delilhan Sugurbayoglu orTalilhan Sukurbayeff[1][2] (simplified Chinese:达列力汗·苏古尔巴也夫;traditional Chinese:達列力汗·蘇古爾巴也夫;pinyin:Dálièlìhàn·Sūgǔ'ěrbāyěfū;Uyghur:دەلىلقان سۇگۇربايۇف;Kazakh:دالەلحان سۇگىرباەۆ/Дәлелхан Сүгірбаев,Dälelhan Sügırbaev; 24 June 1906 – 27 August 1949) was aKazakh leader inXinjiang,China during the first half of the 20th century. He served as the Deputy Commander of theEast Turkistan National Army of theSecond East Turkistan Republic.
Dalelkhan Sugirbayev was born in 1906 to a nomadicKazakh family in theBayan-Ölgii Region ofQing China (the westernmostaimag of modern-dayMongolia).[3] His grandfather and father were both chieftains of the Qieruqi branch of the AbaqKerey tribe.[3] Other sources say they were part of theNaiman tribe.[4] The family moved about the pastures in theAltai Mountains, separating Mongolia and Xinjiang.[3]
When his father died in 1918, his older brother, Duerbuti Khan, became chief.[3] In 1921, remnants ofWhite Russian troops under Andrei Stephanovich Bakich entered the Tacheng region with theSoviet Red Army in pursuit.[3] After several thousand White Russians crossed theIrtysh River, Duerbuti agreed to help the Red Army gather intelligence on the intruders.[3] When Bakich learned that the local chieftain had refused to give livestock to his army and was helping the Soviets, he went to arrest Duerbuti.[3] The White Russians came during Dalelkhan's wedding. They seized his brother and the family's wealth.[3] A month later, Duerbuti was executed and Dalelkhan fled to the Red Army, who defeated the White Russians.[3]
In the spring of 1930, Dalelkhan sent his mother and brother from Bayan-Ölgii, which had become part of independent Mongolia, to the Ashan (Altay) region of Xinjiang.[3] Later, he followed them with a thousand tribesman.[3]
Xinjiang at the time was ruled by warlord governorSheng Shicai.[3] Dalelkhan was made the deputy chairman of the Society for the Advancement of Kazakh Culture.[3] In 1937, he became a core member of the Anti-Imperialist Society of the Altay region.[3] In September 1939, after the outbreak ofWorld War II, Sheng Shicai began to move away from Soviet-backing.[3] Dalelkhan opposed Sheng Shicai and moved to the Soviet Union to study.[3] He received military training inAlmaty and in October 1943, proposed organizing a national liberation army in Altay, Xinjiang.[3] By then Sheng Shicai had severed ties withSoviet andChinese Communists and the Soviet authorities supported Dalelkhan's plans.[3] They sent a team of 12 military advisors to accompany him back to Ashan (Altay), via Mongolia, and they set up a militia base inQinggil County, where they taught Kazakh nomads about the ideas of revolution and trained them into a partisan force.[3]
Dalelkhan then joined forces withOsman Batur, an ethnic Kazakh guerrilla leader who had a larger following and backing from the Mongolian government.[5] Osman Batur's mother was from the Qieruqi tribe, and Dalelkhan's mother asked her to have Osman take care of Dalelkhan.[5] On account of the blood relations, Osman trusted Dalelkhan and gave him an important leadership position.[5]
In February 1944, Osman and Dalelkhan's Kazakh guerrilla force rebelled against Sheng Shicai's government and captured the Qinggil County seat.[3] By April, the rebels had 1,000 fighters and spread the rebellion toJeminay,Fuhai,Habahe and Chenghua (Altay).[3] In October, the rebel forces established a revolutionary government in the Altay region.[3] After the outbreak of theIli Rebellion in theIli valley, the Kazakhs began to cooperate with theIli National Army, under the Russian commander A. Leskin.[3]
In February 1945, the rebels captured Jeminay.[3] In early August 1945, Osman and Dalelkhan attacked Chenghua, with the help of the Mongolian army, but could not capture the city.[6] In September, they surrounded the city.[6] Nationalist Chinese defenders fled for the Mongolian border but were refused entry, and surrendered.[3][6] On September 20, the guerrilla forces around Altay was organized into the Altay Kazakh Cavalry Battalion with Dalelkhan as commander.[6]
Then, the political situation changed as the Nationalist leaderChiang Kai-shek pressed the Soviet Union to cease support for the rebellion.[3] A ceasefire in October halted the fighting.[3] On November 17, 1945, Dalelkhan issued orders protecting the legal and property rights of ethnicHan Chinese in the Altay region.[3]
In the summer of 1946, the leaders of the Ili Uprising agreed to set aside their declaration of an independentEast Turkestan Republic and joined in a coalition government with the Nationalists inDihua.[3] Dalelkhan became the minister of the health bureau in the provincial government.[3][7]
Tensions remained high between the rebels in the three districts of northern Xinjiang and the Nationalist authorities which controlled the rest of the province.[3] After the outbreak of full-scalecivil war between the Nationalists and Communists inChina proper, the Nationalists persuadedOsman Batur to change sides.[3] Osman resented the Soviet influence in the revolutionary government and joined the Nationalists.[5] Dalelkhan supported the Soviets and broke with Osman.[1][5]
In November 1946, Osman Batur attacked Fuhai.[3] From January to March 1947, he launched five raids on Chenghua.[3] The Three Districts government expelled Osman Batur and designated Dalelkhan as the executive of the Altay District.[3] In August 1947, Osman Batur and the Nationalists attacked the Altay District.[3] After two months of heavy fighting, the Ili National Army under the command of Dalelkhan and Leskin repelled the invasion.
In September 1948, he became the chair of the Altay chapter of the "Union to Protect Peace and Democracy in Xinjiang." The Union was formed by the progressive faction within the Ili government, in opposition to the pan-Turkic and pan-Islamists in the government.[3] In November 1948, as the Chinese Communists turned the tide in the civil war, Dalelikhan spoke enthusiastically of having the INA joining forces with thePeople's Liberation Army.[3]
In August 1949,Mao Zedong invited the Ili leadership to attend apolitical consultative conference in Beiping (nowBeijing) to plan the establishment of a new national government.[3] On August 19, Dalelkhan received the invitation inBurqin and sought to fly to Yining to join the main leadership delegation, but the airplane carrying him had engine problems nearHoboksar and was forced to turn back.[3] He then drove to Yining and met the Chinese Communist representativeDeng Liqun.[3] He departed for Beiping via the Soviet Union withEhmetjan Qasim,Abdulkerim Abbas,Ishaq Beg Munonov andLuo Zhi. All died when their airplane crashed in theTransbaikal region on or about August 27, 1949.[3][8]
In the People's Republic of China, Dalelkhan is remembered as a martyr and hero in the struggle against the Nationalist regime.[9] His remains were returned to China in April 1950 and later reburied in a martyrs' memorial cemetery in Altay.[3]
Dalelkhan Sugirbayev's son married Nusipkhan Konbay's daughter, who was acolonel in the Ili National Army and later became the head of theIli Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture. Dalelkhan's grandson, Tasken (Tasiken), was a contestant in the Chinese reality talent showThe Voice of China.[10]