Osman Batur

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Osman Batur
Born	1899 Koktokay County, Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang, Great Qing
Died	April 29, 1951(1951-04-29) (aged 51–52) Ürümqi, Xinjiang, People's Republic of China
Battles / wars	Ili Rebellion Battle of Baitag Bogd Chinese Civil War Kuomintang Islamic insurgency

Osman Batur (lit. 'Osman the Hero'; 1899 – April 29, 1951) was a Kazakh military leader active in the Altai Mountains. He led a personal army of fellow Kazakhs and fought alongside the Soviet-backed Second East Turkestan Republic, before defecting to the Nationalist forces of the Republic of China.

Osman was born Osman Islamuly (also translated as Osman Islam) in 1899 in Öngdirkara, in the Köktogay region of Altay (present-day Koktokay County, Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang, China). He was the son of Islam Bey, a middle-class farmer.

Osman came to be known mononymously as "Osman"; his allies gave him the honorific Batur, meaning "hero", while his enemies called him "Osman the Bandit".

Some sources claim that Osman was considered a good rider and a master hunter before the age of 10 and learned martial arts from Böke Batur, a Kazakh who he trained under at the age of 12.^[1] However, other sources have noted that Osman would have been four-years-old at the time in question, so these stories may be an attempt to give him a "heroic upbringing".^[2]

In 1940, Osman retreated to the mountains as the administration of the Republic of China began to increase its military presence in the region.

Osman began fighting against both the Chinese and the Soviets in 1941, with the aim of expelling both groups from the Altai region. During World War II, Turkic independence movements in the region gained momentum as both China and the Soviet Union were preoccupied with invading Axis forces. This set the stage for the rise of Osman.

Osman reached his goal of expelling all Chinese from Altai in 1943. In a ceremony held in Bulgun on July 22, 1943, Osman declared the Altai Khanate.

The East Turkestan Republic was not united. There was a split in the government, and two groups fought. The leaders of individual districts and units showed separatism, notably one of the most striking "field commanders" of Osman. In the 1930s, he was a little-known gang leader. In 1940, Osman became one of the leaders of the Kazakh uprising in the Altai district against Governor General Sheng Shicai. The rebellion was caused by the decision of the authorities to transfer the pastures and watering places to the settled peasants – Dungans and Chinese. In 1943, Altai Kazakhs rebelled again due to the decision of the authorities to relocate them to the south of Xinjiang and place Chinese refugees in their nomadic lands. After Osman met with Khorloogiin Choibalsan, leader of the Mongolian People's Republic, weapons rebels supplied the MPR. In the spring of 1944, Osman was forced to retreat to Mongolia.

Moreover, his unit's departure was covered by the air forces of the MPR and the USSR. In the fall of 1945, the Osman-Batur detachment liberated the Altai District from the Kuomintang. After that, Osman was appointed by the government of the ETR Governor of the Altai District.

Disputes immediately began between him and the ETR government. The Altai governor refused to comply with the instructions of the republic's leadership, and his troops did not obey the army's command. In particular, when the ETR army suspended military operations against the Kuomintang troops (the ETR leadership accepted the proposal to start negotiations to create a single coalition government in Xinjiang), the Osman detachments not only failed to comply with this instruction but, on the contrary, intensified their activities. At the same time, his gangs were smashed and plundered by the Kuomintang units and wagons and the villages controlled by the ETR. It was not for nothing that Stalin called the Osman "a social bandit."

Osman hatched plans to create the Altai Khanate, utterly independent of the ETR and China, hoping for support from Mongolia. This caused concern for Moscow. The head of the NKVD, Beria, turned to Molotov with a request to coordinate actions against this Kazakh Robin Hood with Marshal MPR Choibalsan. However, attempts by the command of the army and the leadership of the ETR, Soviet representatives, and personally Choibalsan to reason the rebellious commander failed. In 1946, referring to the disease, he left the post of governor and returned to the free life of the "field commander". They robbed the settlements that were part of the ETR.

At the end of 1946, Osman took the side of the Kuomintang authorities and received the post of a specially authorized Xinjiang government in the Altai District. He became one of the most dangerous enemies of the ETR and the MPR. At the beginning of June 1947, a detachment of Osman of several hundred fighters, with the support of Kuomintang army units, invaded the territory of Mongolia in the Baitag-Bogd region. Osman's bandits destroyed the border outpost and invaded the depths of the MPR. On June 5, Mongol troops approached with the support of Soviet aviation and knocked out the enemy. Then the Mongols invaded Xinjiang but were defeated in the area of the Chinese outpost of Betashan. Subsequently, both sides exchanged several raids; skirmishes continued until the summer of 1948. After the Baitag-Bogd incident, Beijing and Moscow exchanged notes with mutual accusations and protests.

Osman remained on the side of the Kuomintang government, received reinforcements of people, weapons, and ammunition, and in the fall of 1947, fought in the Altai District with the troops of the ETR. He was even able to capture the capital of Shara-Sume County temporarily. The authorities of the republic had to carry out additional mobilization. Soon, Osman was defeated and fled east. In 1949, the Kuomintang in China were defeated. The Communists defeated and occupied Xinjiang. Osman rebelled against the new government. He was captured in Hami (Eastern Xinjiang), circulated, and executed in Urumqi on April 29, 1951. After his death, many of his followers fled over the Himalayas. They were later airlifted to Turkey and resettled there.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Osman Batur.

• Kazakh exodus from Xinjiang