Ehmetjan Qasim

Ehmetjan Qasimi (ئەخمەتجان قاسىمى) (احمد جان قاسمي) (15 April 1914–27 August 1949<ref>also transliterated as Ehmetjan Qasimi, Exmetjan Qasimi, Ahmetjan Khasim, Ahmet Jan Kasimi, Aḥmadjān Qāsim, or Ahmetcan Kasim</ref>) was a Uyghur political leader in East Turkistan (Xinjiang) province of the Republic of China.

Life and Political Career

Ehmetjan was born in Ghulja (Yining in Chinese) in 1914. He studied at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East, Moscow in 1936 and was a member of Communist Party of Soviet Union. Ehmetjan was described as "Stalin's man" and as a "communist-minded progressive".<ref>Forbes 1986, p. 174</ref> Qasim Russified his surname to "Kasimov" and became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

He was a member of the governing council of the Second East Turkestan Republic, a Soviet-backed administration founded in three northwestern districts of Xinjiang during the Ili Rebellion in November 1944.<ref>Benson 1990:138</ref> Qasimi himself was not involved with the planning of the rebellion.<ref>Benson 1990:140</ref> The Second ETR was initially led by Elihan Tore, who favored forming a conservative Islamic government.<ref name=Dickens>Mark Dickens, "The Soviets in Xinjiang 1911-1949" Last Accessed 2010-11-14</ref> Tore was placed under house arrest in the Soviet Union in 1946, under the orders of Stalin. Qasimi was a leader of the pro-Soviet East Turkistan Turkic People's National Liberation Committee (ETTPNLC).<ref name=Dickens/>

In June 1946, Qasimi tried to reach a political agreement with the Nationalist Chinese leader Zhang Zhizhong to form a coalition provincial government in Dihua (present day Urumqi).<ref>Benson 1990:63, 70</ref> The Second ETR was to be disbanded in name but the three districts retained autonomy.<ref name=Dickens/> As a president of the ETR, Qasimi called for unity and support for his government and rejected the coalition provincial government.<ref>Benson 1990:84, 101</ref> He explained that the people of East Turkistan had risen in rebellion only to secure their rights under the Chinese constitution.<ref name="Benson 1990:86">Benson 1990:86</ref> He led a delegation to the Chinese National Assembly Nanjing to negotiate bi-lateral relations between ETR and the Republic of China.<ref name="Benson 1990:86"/>

In the summer of 1949, as Chinese Nationalists were losing the civil war to the Chinese Communists, the Soviet Union planned for ETR leaders to switch sides. On August 22, 1949, Vasiliy Borisov, the Soviet Vice-Consul at Yining, accompanied ETR leadership in auto trip to USSR for urgent talks with Soviet officials about future of ETR, where they were told to cooperate with Communist Party of China. They were invited by Chinese Communist leader, Mao Zedong to attend the First Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing to prepare for the founding of the People's Republic of China. On August 24, 1949 Ehmetjan, Abdulkerim Abbas, Ishaq Beg Munonov, Dalelkhan Sugirbayev, Luo Zhi and other top ETR representatives (11 men in all) boarded a plane in Almaty, the capital of the Kazakh SSR, for Beijing. On September 3, the Soviet Union informed Saifuddin Azizi, another leader of the ETR, who was not on the flight that the plane had crashed near Lake Baikal en route to Beijing, killing all on board.<ref>Donald H. McMillen, Chinese Communist Power and Policy in Xinjiang, 1949-1977 (Boulder, Colorado:Westview Press, 1979), p. 30</ref> (See Template:Interlanguage link multi.)

Saifuddin and two other ETR leaders then traveled to Beijing by train where they agreed to incorporate East Turkistan into the newly founded People's Republic of China and accept important positions within the administration. News of plane crash and death of Ehmetjan was not publicly announced in Xinjiang until early December, after the People's Liberation Army had secured the region. The ETR was officially dissolved on December 20, 1949.

Family

Ehmetjan Qasimi was married in January 1945 to Mahinur Qasim (Maynor Kasim; 玛依努尔•哈斯木), a native of Korgas County in Ili.<ref name=Douban>(Chinese) 回忆阿合买提江（上下）</ref> The couple had a son and a daughter.<ref name=Douban/> In 1952, Mahinur Qasim became the mayor of Yining and joined the Chinese Communist Party.<ref name=Douban/> She later served as a member of Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and a vice chair of the All-China Women's Federation.<ref>(Chinese) 第七届全国妇联领导机构主要成员</ref> She has been a prominent advocate of women and children's rights.<ref>(Chinese) 自治区领导会见玛依努尔·哈斯木祝贺她荣获中国内藤国际育儿奖 2002-12-18</ref> Her memoir of her husband, Remembering Ehmetijan, was published in China in 2011.<ref name=Douban/>

Legacy

In the People's Republic of China, Ehmetjan Qasimi is remembered as a fighter in the struggle against the Nationalist regime.<ref name=autogenerated1/> Among the Uyghurs and other Turkic inhabitants of East Turkistan he is remembered as a national hero, and fighter who gave his life defending the independence of East Turkistan. His remains were returned to China in April 1950 and later reburied in a memorial cemetery in Yining.<ref name=autogenerated1/> The cemetery has a stele with calligraphy by Mao Zedong, praising Qasimi and the others who died with him for their contributions to the Chinese civil war and mourning their death en route to the Inaugural Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing.<ref name=autogenerated1>(Chinese) "三区革命烈士陵园（三区革命历史纪念馆）：伊宁市" 人民网 Template:Webarchive 2008-10-18</ref>

The Turkistan Islamic Party mentioned Ehmetjan Qasim in issue 1 of its magazine, Islamic Turkistan, in an article about the region's history.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Bibliography

• Abdurakhman Abay, Ahmetjan Qasimi Haqqida Hikayilar, Urumqi: Xinjiang Peoples Publishing (1984)
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• Zordun Sabir, Anayurt, Almaty: Nash Mir (2006)

External links

• The Soviets in Xinjiang (1911-1949) by Mark Dickens