Margub Iskhakov
Born13 March 1923
Ghulja, Republic of China
Died1992
Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan
Allegiance
Service/branch
Rank Major General of the PLA
Commands held
Battles/warsIli Rebellion (1944–1949)
RelationsAsgat Iskhakov (brother)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese馬爾果甫·伊斯卡果夫
Simplified Chinese马尔果夫·伊斯哈科夫
Russian name
RussianМаргуб Тимергалиевич Исхаков
Tatar name
TatarМәргуб Тимергали улы Исхаков
Märgub Timergali ulı İsxaqov

Margub Timergalievich Iskhakov (13 March 1923 – 1992) was a Chinese Tatar military officer who held several important commands in the armies of the Second East Turkestan Republic and the People's Republic of China. He defected to the Soviet Union in the Ili-Tacheng incident of 1962, amid the Sino-Soviet split. He died in Alma-Ata (Almaty), Kazakhstan, in 1992.

Biography

Iskhakov (center) standing next to Saifuddin Azizi, 1955

Iskhakov was born to an ethnic Muslim Tatar family in the Chinese city of Ghulja in 1923. A communist, Iskhakov was imprisoned for two years under the regime of Sheng Shicai, after which he joined the Ili Rebellion as a political commissar. In 1945, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Ili National Army of the Second East Turkestan Republic. Following the Incorporation of Xinjiang into the People's Republic of China in 1949, Iskhakov joined the Communist Party of China and accepted a commission in the People's Liberation Army (PLA). He was eventually appointed Chief of Staff of the Xinjiang Military Region and in 1955 became the youngest general in the PLA.[1]

In 1956, the Sino-Soviet Split began, and during this period of political dispute many Tatars and ethnic Muslims in Xinjiang, including Iskhakov, sided with the Soviet Union and were granted Soviet citizenship. However, Iskhakov's relocation to the Soviet Union was handled legally and with few political consequences, resulting in his peaceful immigration to the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic in 1962.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Wang, David (1999). Under the Soviet Shadow The Yining Incident: Ethnic Conflicts and International Rivalry in Xinjiang, 1944-1949. Chinese University Press. p. 151. ISBN 9622018319.
  2. ↑ Chen, Jack (1977). The Sinkiang Story. Macmillan. ISBN 0025246402.
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