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East Turkestan, also known as , East Turkistan, Uyghuristan, and Uyghurstan (Uyghur: Sherqiy Türkistan; Uyghuriye), refers to the eastern part of the greater Turkestan region of Central Asia, and is concurrent with the present-day Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. More specifically, at times, the term East Turkestan only referred to Xinjiang area south of Tien Shan; north of Tien Shan was called Dzungaria (Zungaria). The area is largely inhabited by the 8 million Uyghurs, 7 million Han Chinese, 1.5 million Kazakhs and 16 other ethnic groups with significant numbers.

History

The area was part various Khanates before it became part of China's Tang Dynasty until the 9th century. The local empire, Kara-Khanid Khanate ruled from 840 to 1212. The region had been ruled as a section of the Chagatai Khanate, from the Mongol invasion of Central Asia of the 13th Century. In the late 17th Century it experienced fragmentation and annexation by Mongol groups. It again became part of China during the Qing Dynasty with the defeat of the Dzungars from 1757 to 1759.

In 1912, the Qing Dynasty was replaced by the Republic of China. Yuan Dahua, the last Qing governor, fled. One of his subordinates Yang Zengxin (杨增新), took control of the province and acceded in name to the Republic of China in March of the same year. Through Machiavellian politics and clever balancing of mixed ethnic constituencies, Yang maintained control over Xinjiang until his assassination in 1928. Multiple insurgencies arose against his successor Jin Shuren (金树仁) in the early 1930s throughout Xinjiang, involving Uyghurs, other Turkic groups, Russians and Hui (Muslim) Chinese. In the Kashgar region on November 12, 1933, the short-lived self-proclaimed East Turkestan Republic was declared, after some debate over whether the proposed independent state should be called "East Turkestan" or "Uyghuristan." The ETR claimed authority over territory stretching from Aksu along the northern rim of the Tarim Basin to Khotan in the south. Xinjiang was eventually brought in 1934 under the control of northeast Chinese warlord Sheng Shicai (盛世才), who ruled Xinjiang for the next decade with close support from the Soviet Union, many of whose ethnic and security policies Sheng instituted in Xinjiang. Sheng invited a group of Chinese Communists to Xinjiang, but in 1943, fearing a conspiracy, Sheng executed them all, including Mao Zemin, the brother of Mao Zedong. A Second East Turkestan Republic (2nd ETR, also known as the Three Districts Revolution) existed from 1944-1949 with Soviet support in what is now Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture in northern Xinjiang.

The Second East Turkistan Republic came to an end when the People's Liberation Army (PLA) entered Xinjiang in 1949. According to the PRC interpretation, the 2nd ETR was Xinjiang's revolution, a positive part of the communist revolution in China; the 2nd ETR acceded to and welcomed the PLA when it entered Xinjiang, a process known as the Peaceful Liberation of Xinjiang. However, independence advocates view the ETR as an effort to establish an independent state, and the subsequent PLA entry as an invasion. The autonomous region of the PRC was established on October 1, 1955, replacing the province. The PRC's first nuclear test was carried out at Lop Nur, Xinjiang, on October 16, 1964.

Geography

Greater Turkestan is subdivided into West (former Soviet Union countries) and East Turkestan (administered as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China). The Tian Shan (Tengri Tagh) and Pamir mountain ranges form the rough division between the two Turkestans.

Centers of culture

The area contains some of the great cities of Turkic culture, notably Kashgar, Hotan, Turfan, Yarkand, Ili (Ghulja), Kumul, Aqsu, Kucha and Altay.

References

1. "Turkestan". Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. XV. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1912. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
2. Map of China 1900]
3. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/world/asia/19xinjiang.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

• Baris ADIBELLI, "Dogu Turkistan ( East Turkestan)", IQ Publishing House, İstanbul,2008 (Turkish)

See also

External links

• East Turkistan Radio & Television
• East Turkistan Information
• Ansari, Fahad The Plight of the Uighurs: China’s Muslims Suffering As Much As the Tibetans Islamicawakening.com (Retrieved on 04/08/2008)
• El-Kaissouni, Azizudin East Turkistan: China’s Forgotten Muslims IslamOnline.net (Retrieved on 04/08/2008)
• MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base
• East Turkestan Islamic Movement (China, separatists), Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) background information, Updated November 2005
• East Turkestan - Arabic
• Abdul Haq, Chairman of Islamic Party of East Turkistan (IPET)

• Central Asia
• Proposed countries
• Turkestan
• Xinjiang
• Territorial disputes of the Republic of China