Ehmetjan Qasimi (15 April 1914 – 27 August 1949) was a Uyghur politician and revolutionary who held several important positions in the governments of the Second East Turkestan Republic and the Republic of China's Xinjiang Province. He notably served as the vice chairman of the Coalition Government of Xinjiang Province.
Ehmetjan was born in Ghulja 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 the Soviet Union. Ehmetjan was described as "Stalin's man", though the evidence for this description is circumstantial.
Life and political career
Ehmetjan was born in Ghulja (Yining in Chinese) in 1914. He studied in the Soviet Union at the Communist University of the Toilers of the East, Moscow in 1936 and was a member of Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Ehmetjan was described as a "communist-minded progressive".The ETR was initially led by Elihan Tore, who favored forming a conservative Islamic government.
In June 1946, Ehmetjan tried to reach a political agreement with the Nationalist government leader Zhang Zhizhong to form a coalition government in Dihua (present day Ürümqi). The ETR was to be disbanded in name but as the Foreign Minister of the East Turkestan Republic, Ehmetjan called for unity and support for his government and rejected the coalition government. He explained that the people of East Turkestan had risen in rebellion only to secure their rights under the Chinese constitution. He led a delegation to the National Assembly in Nanjing to negotiate bi-lateral relations between ETR and the Republic of China.
Seypidin later secured the role of regional Chairman of Xinjiang, a job he kept from 1955 to 1978, with a brief respite during the Cultural Revolution. 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 20 December 1949.
Legacy
In the People's Republic of China, Ehmetjan is remembered as a fighter in the struggle against the Nationalist government.
In 2021 documentary by the Chinese state–run CGTN channel, a photograph of Ehmetjan wearing an ETR medal in a school textbook was cited as an example of Uyghur educators inserting separatist propaganda in educational materials. Australian historian of modern Chinese history David Brophy notes that this was despite Ehmetjan having "enjoyed relative protection as a historical figure" due to his leadership in the Three Districts Revolution, and the same photo having been used by Ehmetjan's late wife in her memoirs, albeit cropped above the medal.
Family
Ehmetjan was married in January 1945 to Mahinur Qasimi, a native of Korgas County in Ili. The couple had a son and a daughter. She has been a prominent advocate of women and children's rights. Her memoir of her husband, Remembering Ehmetijan, was published in China in 2011.