Please contact Admins@Meshrep.com to update the calendar. Back to Calendar

An underground organization named ‘Ghulja Liberation Organization’ was formed in the city of Ghulja with the support and assistance of the Soviet Consulate in Ghulja. The purpose of the organization was to oppose the counterrevolutionary rule of the Sheng Shi-Cai and Guo Ming Dang. Mr. Alihan Tore was the president.

The establishment of this organization was influenced by a number of advanced individuals who were knowledgeable in the philosophies of Marxism and Leninism, and in the Chinese communist idea. The organization was established after a long time spent in preparation and promoting this advanced ideology among all nationalities, the different classes, and various political forces.

The leadership of the organization was complicated; progressive intellectuals such as Ablikim Abbasof and Kasimjan Kamberi made up a small proportion of the leading body, while the majority consisted of highly religious individuals such as Alihan Tore and Muhamedjan Mahsum, along with rich businessmen, farm owners, and landlords.

After establishment, Ablikim Abbasof and others worked to spread ideas of opposition towards Sheng Shi-Cai and Guo Ming Dang rule among progressive intellectuals and youths. Alihan Tore and others organized secret activities among high level religious individuals. The Baidulla Mosque was used as headquarters for their activities. Through the use of religious ceremonies, they spread propaganda to oppose Sheng Shi-Cai and Guo Ming Dang rule; in addition, they also promoted pan-Islamic, pan-Turkic and national separatist ideas among minority nationalities. By describing Sheng Shi-Cai and Guo Ming Dang oppression of minority nationalities as a result of the ‘Rule of the Han’, they called for a struggle against the Han and promoted the idea to get rid of the Han people. They advocated a ‘holy war’ against the Han. They also advocated separatism and independence by distorting the history of Xinjiang.

April 10, 1944.
American president Franklin Roosevelt sent a telegram to Chinese president Chiang Kai-Shi, urging Chiang to take the overall mindset of the contemporary world, which was currently against fascism, into consideration, and to soften the China’s tense relationship with the USSR in relation to the Xinjiang issue so that the international community could gain the USSR support against fascism.

April, 1944.
The Altai guerrilla was formed along the Burgin river with Sulubay as the commander in chief.

June 10, 1944.
Joseph Stalin met with American ambassador Hallman. He indicated that it was important to dismiss Sheng Shi-Cai’s government position in order to improve the Sino-Soviet relationship.

August 20, 1944.
The first victory of Ulastay Guerrilla against Guo Ming Dang forces encouraged many people to join the guerrilla force. The guerrilla forces made their first major reform by forming three brigades with more than 200 soldiers and 60 rifles. Patih Mosilmof was the commander of guerrilla.

November 12, 1944.
The Ghulja Liberation Organization held a conference in the “Uighur, Kazakh and Kirghiz Club” and announced the establishment of the Eastern Turkistan Republic. The conference announced the national Flag of ET. Alihan Tore was elected as the president, Hakimbek Hoja, Abdurup Mahsum, Rahimjan Sabirhaji, Muhamatjan Mahsum, Abdukerim Abasof, Hibib Ghunchef, Anwar Musa, Pavil Povloviq, Abduhayir Tore, Gheni Yoldash, Salijanbay Babajan, Abdumutaghrip, Peter Alexanderof and Gheni were elected as the governing body of the Republic. Akimbek Hoja was elected as the vice president, and Abdurup Mahsum was elected as the general secretary of the state.

November 19, 1944
The ETR Ministry of Education was established with Hibib Ghunchef as minister and Sayfidin Aziz as vice minister.

November 1944
The ETR Ministry of Inner Affairs was established with Abdukerim Abasof as minister.

December 1944
The ETR Supreme Court was established with Muhametjan Mahsum as supreme justice.

December 1944
The ETR Ministry of Propaganda was established with Abdukerim Abasuf as minister.

January 1, 1945
The ETR Ministry of Health was established with Kasimjan Kamberi as minister.

January 5, 1945
The ETR government decided to develop trade with the USSR to export animal and other agricultural goods, with taxation on imports and exports. The Department of Finance was given the power of making decisions on the specifics of taxation methods, areas and amounts.

January 5, 1945
At the Fourth Congress of ETR, the government announced its goals to:
1. Completely wipe out the dictatorship of China in the territory of Eastern Turkistan;
2. Establish a truly free and independent country on the basis of equality to all nationalities in Eastern Turkistan.
3. Develop industry, agriculture and animal husbandry in order to improve the Eastern Turkistan economy and raise living standards of the people.
4. Particularly promote Islam, since the majority of the people of Eastern Turkistan were followers of Islam. However, religious freedom would be protected for all other religions.
5. Improve culture, education, and health care in ETR.
6. Establish a friendly relationship with all democratic countries in the world, paying special attention to the relationship with ETR's neighboring Soviet Union, while at the same time promoting political and economical relationship with China.
7. Establish a strong army by attracting all nationalities in order to protect the peace in ETR.
8. Retain the ETR government ownership of all banks, post offices, telephone and telegraph systems, forests and all underground resources.
9. Eliminate selfishness, nationalist ideas and corruption among employees in the nation.

January 5, 1945
The ETR Ministry of Finance was established with Anwar Musabaef as minister.

January 11, 1945
The American ambassador in Urumqi, Walter, paid a visit to Wu Zhong-Xin; he expressed a deep interest in learning the details of the ‘Ghulja Event’ for the purpose of publishing the news in the American media and eventually publicize the event to the world.

January 12, 1945
The ETR government announced the establishment of a Ministry of Military with Peter
Alexanderof assigned as the minister.

January 16, 1945
The ETR government passed the so-called Number Eight legislation determined to (1) establish the bureau of cultural and historical relics within the Ministry of Education with the responsibility of protecting cultural and historical antiques, and (2) establish a general hospital, a general pharmacy and the Department of Healthcare.

February 4-11, 1945
The leaders of the USA, UK and USSR (Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin, respectively), held a summit in Yalta and signed so-called ‘Yarta Secret Treaty’.

February 1945
The ETR government appointed Zunun Tiyipof as the vice chairman of the National Supervisory Committee.
March 3, 1945
The Ministry of National Inspection was established with Zunun Teyipof as minister.

March 13, 1945
The Ministry of Land and Water was established with Sarijanbay Babajan as minister.

April 13, 1945
Jiang Jie-Shi Jieshi's son Jiang Jing-Guo came to Urumqi with Jiang's handwritten letter. He discussed Xinjiang's issue with Wu Zhong-Xin and suggested using minorities to handle Xinjiang affairs. He recommended assigning local nationalities to vice presidential or head of province departments. During the time in Urumqi, Jiang Jing-Guo also talked with Soviet officials about the relationship between the Soviet Union and Xinjiang.

May 28, 1945
Josoph Stalin indicated to the American president Truman’s special envoy, Hopkins, that if China could comply with the conditions in the ‘Yarta Secret Agreement,’ the Soviet would declare war with Japan and send troops to Manchuria to fight against the Japanese army. He also noted that he would fully support Jiang Jieshi aim to unify China, and assert that the Soviet Union had no territorial demands in China, either in Xinjiang or elsewhere.

May 28, 1945
Chinese president Chiang Kaishi called a special meeting in the city of Chong Qing to discuss issues related to bilateral talks between the Chinese and the Soviet Union. It was decided that if the Soviet government could guarantee the Chinese government’s territorial claims on the North-East and Xinjiang provinces, and stop supporting ‘Xinjiang Turmoil’, the Chinese would consider demands from the Soviet Union about ‘Outer Mongolia’ (i.e. recognize the independence of the Mongolian People’s Republic).
Jiang Jie-Shi sent two secret telegraphs to Sun Zi-Wen, who was in the negotiation process with Soviet government officials. In the telegraphs, Jiang ordered: We will recognize Outer Mongolian independence after the war, but the Soviet Union has to admit the "North-East” (Mancuria) and Xinjiang as Chinese territories, and has to promise not to support the turmoil in Xinjiang.

June 20, 1945
The Head of the Department of Legislation and the minister of Foreign Affairs of the Guo Ming Dang government, Sun Zi-Wen, met Wu Zhong-Xin in Chong Qing to talk about the current event in Xinjiang. He determined to go to Moscow with Liu Ze-Rong.

June 29, 1945
The American ambassador in Urumqi, Walter, visited Wu Zhongxin and asked about the current events in Gulja. He also informed Wu that American president Truman had already sent the special envoy Hopkins to Moscow, therefore the ‘Ghulja Event’ should be under control.

July 17, 1945
Jiang Jie-Shi ordered Zhu Shao-Liang and Wu Zhong-Xin to get ready to recover the Ili district in October. Zhu and Wu believed that the negotiations between Stalin and Sun Zi-Wen about the event in Xinjiang would reach a conclusion once the foreign relations between the two countries improved, then the Chinese will use political methods to “recover” the Ili district.

August 13, 1945
The Guo Ming Dang government foreign minister Wang Shi-Jie and the Soviet Union foreign minister Molotof signed the ‘Friendship Agreement between China and Soviet Union’ and all supplementary documents. In one of the attached documents, the Guo Min Dang government recognized the independence of “Outer Mongolia,” and the Soviet government indicated: “Regarding to the recent events in Xinjiang, the Soviet Union complies with the 5th item of the ‘Agreement’ and has no intention to intervene with China's inner affairs”

August 28, 1945
Mao Ze-Dong, Zhou En-Lai, Wang Ruo-Fei and several other representatives flew to Chong Qing from Yan An to attend the peace negotiations with Guo Ming Dang. When talking about how to establish new a China after the war with Japan, Mao Ze-Dong especially emphasized the Chinese Communist Party's policy of supporting the struggle for self determination of all nationalities in Xinjiang. He requested the Guo Ming Dang government to abandon the policy of racial discrimination and suppression and find a peaceful solution to resolve the Xinjiang problem.

September 10, 1945
ETR's army reached the west side of Manas River; the troops were only 150 kilometers away from Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. By that time, there were only six battalions of Guo Ming Dang troops guarding Urumqi. Zhu Shao-Liang sent three urgent telegraphs in eight hours to Jiang Jie-Shi, asking for help. The telegraphs said: “We are in a desperate situation, we don't have suitable soldiers to fight, and we can't get any help from outside. Urumqi will soon be taken over by the enemy unless help is sent immediately.”

September 13, 1945
Zhang Zhi-Zhong led the team consisting of Mahsut Sabir (a Guo Mingdang Central Committee member), Deng Wen-Xia (the first minister of the Political Bureau), Aisa Yusuf (a Guo Ming Dang legislative representative), Wang Zen-Shan, Zhan Jing-Yu and Muhamet Imin Bughra (a Guo Ming Dang Central Committee Alternate Inspector), and others flew to Urumqi. On the same night, the team held a meeting with high ranking Xinjiang officials to discuss military, political and foreign affairs in Xinjiang. They all agreed that there was no way to resolve the current problem by using military force, and that the best way to resolve it politically was to ask the Soviet Union to act as mediator.

October 2, 1945
The ETR Government passed the 100th legislative decision, suggesting that the Guo Ming Dang government implement a non-military solution to negotiate the issue of the independence of “Eastern Turkistan.” If the Guo Min Dang government had no objections, the ETR government would soon send Rahimjan Sabirhaji, Abduhayir Tore
and Ahmetjan Kasim as representatives to go to Urumqi for the negotiation.

September 16-27, 1945
The ETR army was ready to take over Kashgar’s old city; troops were 50 kilometers away from the city center.

September 19, 1945
The Quqek district was liberated by the ETR army.

September 15, 1945
The Guo Mingdang government's foreign minister Mr. Wang Shi Jie and Soviet Union foreign minister Mr. Molotof discussed the expansion of the “Xinjiang Ili Event” in London, England. Molotof indicated that the event was going to be a temporary one; it would not take too long to calm down.

September 23, 1945
Alihan Tore organized a ETR government conference in the Altay district and decided (1) the Altay district was a part of the Eastern Turkistan Republic; (2) an Altay districtal government and official divisions would be established with Osman Islam assigned as the Altay governor (3) Osman Islam, Dalilkhan Sughurbay, Zakikhan Ali were elected as new committee members of ETR government.

October 10, 1945
The ETR government passed the 103rd Resolution and elected Ahmatjan Kasim as the committee member of ETR government.

November 25, 1946
Ahmetjan Kasim was elected as a member of the National Congress. During the congress meeting, Ahmetjan Kasim and the other seven representatives handed over a document asking for the renaming of the Xinjiang Province to the “Eastern Turkistan Republic” and to give the province the power of self-determination." On the same day, Zhang Zhi-Zhong's article "My True Answers and Serious Advice" was published. In the article, Zhang pointed out: "Eastern Turkistan is only a geographical name in written history. A name can not be used as an appeal to split the motherland. The only way for Xinjiang is autonomy (self-determination).

January 12, 1947
American reporter Estonis Babara went Ghulja from Urumqi to investigate the ETR revolution. She visited Hakimbek Hoja, Anwer Musabaef and Gheni during the trip.

January 1947
According to Zhang Zhi-Zhong's order, Liu Meng-Chun held several meetings to discuss a feasible solution to deal with Three Districts. They decided to: (1) use an increased scale of propaganda to stress Xinjiang as an inseparable part of China, (2) organize Han, Hui, Kazakh, Kirghiz and other nationalities against the Three Districts. At the same time, to instigate Xibo, Solon and Man cultural clubs to oppose the Three Districts.

President of East Turkistan Republic

Ghini Batur

Femal Soldries                                                          East Turkistan Army in Parade

East Turkistan Army in Manas

Medales of East Turkistan Army

A document of East Turkistan with seal and signatures