View source for Muhammad Amin Bughra

{{More footnotes|date=May 2011}}
{{Infobox President | name=Muhammad Amin Bughra 
| nationality=[[Uighur people|Uighur]]
| image= Khotanlik ulama in 1933, muhammad amin bughra wearing black in foreground.jpg
| caption = Muhammad Amin Bughra wearing Black Chapan in the foreground
| imagesize=250px
|office= [[First East Turkestan Republic|Emir of the First East Turkestan Republic]]
|term_start= 1933
|term_end= April 1934
|lieutenant=
|office2= Member of the [[National Assembly (Republic of China)|National Assembly of the Republic of China]] from Xinjiang province
|term_start2= 1943
|term_end2= -
|predecessor2= 
|successor2= 
| birth_date= April 22, 1901
| birth_place=[[Khotan]]
| dead=alive
| death_date= April 29, 1965 (age 64)
| death_place= [[Turkey]]
| spouse=
| relations        = [[Abdullah Bughra]], [[Nur Ahmad Jan Bughra]]
| children         =
| signature        = 
| religion         = [[Islam]]
| party=[[File:Flag of the First East Turkestan Republic.svg|20px|Flag of the First East Turkestan Republic]] [[Young Kashgar Party]] and [[Committee for National Revolution]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IAs9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA84&dq=committee+for+national+revolution+sabit&hl=en&ei=16cjTNK8EsKAlAf37K2aAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=committee%20for%20national%20revolution%20sabit&f=false|title=Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: a political history of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949|author=Andrew D. W. Forbes|year=1986|publisher=CUP Archive|location=Cambridge, England|isbn=0-521-25514-7|page=84|accessdate=2010-06-28}}</ref> 
}}

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'''Muhammad Amin Bughra''' also Muḥammad Amīn Bughra (1901–1965<ref name="Klimeš2015">{{cite book|author=Ondřej Klimeš|title=Struggle by the Pen: The Uyghur Discourse of Nation and National Interest, c.1900-1949|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdcuBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA122#v=onepage&q&f=false|date=8 January 2015|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-28809-6|pages=122–}}</ref>) ({{lang-ug|مۇھەممەد ئىمىن بۇغرا|}}) (محمد أمين بغرا), Муххамад Эмин Бугро, {{zh|t=穆罕默德·伊敏|s=穆罕默德·伊敏|p=Mùhǎnmòdé·Yīmǐn}} (sometimes known by his Turkish name Mehmet Emin Bugra) was a Turkic Muslim leader, who planned to set up an independent state, the [[First East Turkestan Republic]]. Muhammad Amin Bughra was a [[Jadid|Jadidist]]<ref>{{cite journal |last=Tursun  |first=Nabijan |last2= |first2= |date=December 2014 |title=The influence of intellectuals of the first half of the 20th century on Uyghur politics |url=http://uyghur-studies.com/publications/the-influence-of-intellectuals-of-the-first-half-of-the-20th-century-on-uyghur-politics/ |journal=Uyghur Initiative Papers |publisher=Central Asia Program |volume= |issue=11 |pages=2-3 |doi= |access-date= }}</ref>

==Life==

In the spring of 1937, rebellion again broke out in southern [[Xinjiang|Sinkiang]]. A number of factors contributed to the outbreak. In an effort to appease the [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] [[Muslims]], [[Sheng Shicai]] had appointed a number of their non-secessionist leaders, including [[Hoja-Niyaz|Khoja Niyaz Hajji]] and [[Yulbars Khan]], another leader of the Kumul uprising (February 20, 1931- November 30, 1931), to positions of influence in the provincial government, both in [[Ürümqi|Di Hua]] (modern Ürümqi) and [[Kashgar]].

At the same time, educational reforms, which attacked basic Islamic principles, and the atheistic propaganda program, which was being extended into the south, were further alienating the local population from Sheng's administration. In Kashgar [[Mahmud Sijang]], a wealthy Muslim, former leader of the [[Turpan]] uprising (1932), and one of Sheng's appointees, became the focal point for opposition to the government.

Meanwhile, in [[Afghanistan]] under [[Sardar Mohammad Hashim Khan]], Muhammad Amin Bughra, the exiled leader of the [[First East Turkestan Republic|Turkish Islamic Republic of East Turkestan]] (TIRET, known as the first East Turkestan Republic), had approached the [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] ambassador in 1935 with "a detailed plan proposing the establishment of an 'Eastern Turkestan Republic' under Japanese sponsorship, with munitions and finance to be supplied by [[Tokyo]].... he suggested as the future leader of this proposed [[Central Asian]] '[[Manchukuo]]' none other than Mahmud Sijang ([[Mahmut Muhiti]] - commander of the 6th Uyghur [[Division (military)|Division]], stationed in Kashgar as part of the [[Xinjiang|Sinkiang]] provincial armed forces, since July 20, 1934), amongst the invitation at such political entity as [[Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere]] how active member." However, this plan was aborted when Mahmud, fearful for his life, fled from Kashgar to [[India]] on April 2, 1937, after failed attempt of [[Sheng Shicai]] to disarm his troops by offering to " modernize " weapons of 6th Uyghur Division, prior which all old weapons of Division was to be given over to Urumchi representatives.

Mahmud's flight sparked an uprising amongst his troops against provincial authorities.<ref>{{cite news |title=Moslems in Chinese Turkestan in Revolt Against Pro-Soviet Provincial Authorities|author= |newspaper=The New York Times|date=26 June 1937|url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10C1FFE395C177788DDAF0A94DE405B878FF1D3}}</ref> Those who were pro-[[Soviet Union|Soviet]] in any way were executed, and yet another independent [[Muslim]] administration was set up under leadership of the close associate of Mahmut Muhiti General Abduniyaz (killed in action in [[Yarkant County|Yarkand]] on August 15, 1937), who adopted a command of troops, which enlisted about 4,000 soldiers and officers, consisted of 4 regiments, two of them being stationed in Kashgar, one in [[Yengisar County|Yangihissar]], one in Yarkand, also one brigade was stationed in [[Artux|Ustin Atush]] and one cavalry guard escadron in Kashgar. [[Sheng Shicai]]'s provincial troops were defeated and routed by rebels in the fierce battle near city of [[Karasahr|Karashahr]] in July,1937, but eventually the uprising was quelled by Soviet troops (by the so-called ''Kyrgyz Brigade'', about 5,000 troops, consisted of two tactical groups- ''Oshskaya'' and ''Narinskaya'', each included 2 mountain regiments, one of [[Red Army]] and one of [[NKVD]], reinforced by armoured vehicles, tank battalion (21 [[BT-7]]) and aviation; there were unconfirmed reports of the use of chemical weapons by these intervention forces against rebels), invited by Sheng Shicai to intervene in the August, 1937.

In 1940, Muhammad Amin Bughra published the book ''Sharkiy Turkestan Tarihi'' (East Turkestan History) while in exile in [[Kashmir]], which described the history of the region from ancient times to the present day, and contained an analysis of the reasons for the loss of its  [[independence]] in the middle of the eighteenth century.<ref>https://archive.org/details/SherqiTurkustanTarixidouTrkistanTarihi</ref>

In 1940 [[Isa Yusuf Alptekin]] and Ma Fuliang who were sent by [[Chiang Kai-shek]], visited Afghanistan and contacted Bughra, they asked him to come to [[Chongqing]], the capital of the [[Kuomintang]] regime. Bughra was arrested by the British in 1942 for spying for Japan, and the Kuomintang arranged for Bughra's release. He and Isa Yusuf worked as editors of Kuomintang Muslim publications. Under the [[Zhang Zhizhong]] regime in Xinjiang, he was provincial commissioner.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rsLQdBUgyMUC&dq=xibei+jiuying+wangshi&q=chiang+bughra#v=snippet&q=chiang%20bughra%20return%20chongqing&f=false|title=Modern China's Ethnic Frontiers: A Journey to the West|author=Hsiao-ting Lin|year=2010|publisher=Taylor & Francis|location=|isbn=0-415-58264-4|page=90|accessdate=2010-06-28}}</ref>

Muhammad Amin Bughra and fellow [[Pan-Turkism|Pan-Turkic]] [[Jadidism|Jadidist]] and [[East Turkestan Independence Movement|East Turkestan Independence activist]] [[Masud Sabri]] rejected the Soviet imposition of the name "[[Uyghur people]]" upon the Turkic people of Xinjiang. They wanted instead the name "Turkic ethnicity" (Tujue zu in Chinese) to be applied to their people. Masud Sabri also viewed the [[Hui people]] as Muslim Han Chinese and separate from his own people.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=qz3vdkxBt4AC&pg=PA181#v=onepage&q&f=false] {{harvnb|Wei|2002|p=181}}</ref> The names "Türk" or "Türki" in particular were demanded by Bughra as the real name for his people. He slammed Sheng Shicai for his designation of Turkic Muslims into different ethnicities which could sow disunion among Turkic Muslims.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC&pg=PA209#v=onepage&q&f=false] {{harvnb|Millward|2007|p=209}}</ref>

In December, 1948, Muhammad Amin Bughra was appointed by Chiang Kai Shek as vice-chairman of the Sinkiang Government, led by [[Burhan Shahidi]]. He declared an alliance with the Chinese nationalists (Kuomintang) in order to gain autonomy for the Turkic people, under formal protection of the [[Republic of China]], and necessity of quelling all communist forces in Sinkiang, including the Soviet backed [[Second East Turkestan Republic]].

There were 3 Effendis, (Üch Äpändi) (ئۈچ ئەپەندى) Aisa Alptekin, Memtimin Bughra (Muhammad Amin Bughra), and Masud Sabri.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-first=James A.|editor1-last=Millward|editor2-first=Yasushi|editor2-last=Shinmen|editor3-first=Jun|editor3-last=Sugawara|publisher=The Toyo Bunko|year=2010|location=Tokyo|first=Ablet|last=Kamalov|page=260|series=Studies on Xinjiang Historical Sources in 17-20th Centuries|title=Uyghur Memoir literature in Central Asia on Eastern Turkistan Republic (1944-49)|url=http://www.academia.edu/2277955/Uyghur_Memoir_literature_in_Central_Asia_on_Eastern_Turkistan_Republic_1944-49_}}</ref><ref name="Klimeš2015 2">{{cite book|author=Ondřej Klimeš|title=Struggle by the Pen: The Uyghur Discourse of Nation and National Interest, c.1900-1949|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdcuBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA197#v=onepage&q&f=false|date=8 January 2015|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-28809-6|pages=197–}}</ref> The Second East Turkestan Republic attacked them as Kuomintang "puppets".<ref name="Klimeš2015 3">{{cite book|author=Ondřej Klimeš|title=Struggle by the Pen: The Uyghur Discourse of Nation and National Interest, c.1900-1949|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdcuBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA241&lpg=PA241&dq=khelq+people&source=bl&ots=abNrSh81vg&sig=Z6TeqqfQ-4KJZMsfIPjhxdCyG_w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAWoVChMIuu2et6-ZyQIVSEcmCh082Qzw#v=onepage&q=khelq%20people&f=false|date=8 January 2015|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-28809-6|pages=241–}}</ref><ref name="Wang1999">{{cite book|author=David D. Wang|title=Clouds Over Tianshan: Essays on Social Disturbance in Xinjiang in the 1940s|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c06Er-AvexcC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28#v=onepage&q&f=false|date=January 1999|publisher=NIAS Press|isbn=978-87-87062-62-6|pages=28–}}</ref>

==Exile==
Upon the approach of the Chinese [[People's Liberation Army]] to [[Xinjiang|Sinkiang]] in September, 1949, Muhammad Amin Bughra fled to India, then to [[Turkey]], where he joined another exiled Uyghur leader, [[Isa Alptekin|Isa Yusuf Alptekin]], former General Secretary of the National Assembly of TIRET or the [[First East Turkestan Republic]]. The latter Republic had existed a short time, from November 12, 1933, to February 6, 1934, and fell apart under attacks by the [[Hui people|Hui]] armies of [[Ma Chung-ying]], who was formally allied with the Kuomintang government in [[Nanjing|Nanking]].

In 1954, Muhammad Amin Bughra and Isa Yusuf Alptekin went to Taiwan to try to persuade the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China of dropping its claims to Xinjiang. Their demand was rejected and Taiwan affirmed that it claimed Xinjiang as "an integral part of China".<ref>Page 52, Ismail, Mohammed Sa'id, and Mohammed Aziz Ismail. [http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA365044 Moslems in the Soviet Union and China]. Translated by U.S. Government, Joint Publications Service. Tehran, Iran: Privately printed pamphlet, published as vol. 1, 1960 (Hejira 1380); translation printed in Washington: JPRS 3936, September 19, 1960.</ref>

Muhammad Amin Bughra died in exile in Turkey in 1965.

==Legacy==
The [[Turkistan Islamic Party]] mentioned Muhammad Amin Bughra in issue 1 of its magazine, ''Islamic Turkistan'', in an article about the region's history.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=|first=|date=السنة الأولي شعبان 1429 يوليو 2008 July 2008|title=ماذا تعرف عن تركستان الشرقية |url=https://archive.org/stream/IslamicTurkistan.mag1/islamiturkistan1#page/n19/mode/2up|magazine=تركستان الإسلامية|location=|publisher=|issue=العددالأول|page=١٨|access-date=}}</ref>

==Notes==
*Mark Dickens. [http://www.academia.edu/398262/The_Soviets_In_Xinjiang ''The Soviets in Xinjiang (1911-1949)'']. 1990.
*[[Allen S. Whiting (political scientist)#Sinkiang:Pawn or Pivot?|Allen S. Whiting]] (1958) and General Sheng Shicai. ''Sinkiang: Pawn or Pivot ?''. Michigan State University Press, USA, 1958.
* {{cite book|last=Millward|first=James A.|title=Eurasian Crossroads: A History of Xinjiang|year=2007|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=0231139241|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8FVsWq31MtMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false|edition=illustrated|accessdate=25 March 2013}}
* {{cite book|title=Exploring Nationalisms of China: Themes and Conflicts|year=2002|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=0313315124|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qz3vdkxBt4AC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false|volume=Volume 102 of Contributions to the Study of World History Series|editors=C. X. George Wei, Xiaoyuan Liu|accessdate=25 March 2013}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commonscat|Muhammad Amin Bughra}}
*[http://crwflags.com/fotw/flags/cn-islam.html Flags of Independence]
*[http://oxuscom.com/sovinxj.htm The Soviets in Xinjiang (1911-1949) by Mark Dickens]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bughra, Muhammad Amin}}
[[Category:Uyghurs]]
[[Category:East Turkestan independence movement]]
[[Category:1901 births]]
[[Category:1965 deaths]]
[[Category:Young Kashgar Party politicians]]
[[Category:Republic of China politicians from Xinjiang]]
[[Category:People from Hotan]]
[[Category:Chinese anti-communists]]
[[Category:National liberation movements]]
[[Category:Islam in China]]
[[Category:Separatism in China]]