dogu-turkistan-sempozyumu

Important Crossroads and the Chinese Occupation in the History of Eastern Turkistan / Prof Alaeddin Yalcinkayaoccupy Kashgar alone, then delivering it over to the Chinese, has gained emphasisover the last couple years. It was considered to be much more advantageous tohave the Chinese, who would go along with the provisions of the agreement andwho were much easier to negotiate with, as neighbors rather than the smallerUzbek statelet of Yakub Beg. Such ideas also defend that Russia should not gobeyond the Tien Shan Mountains, perfect natural barriers; some objections wereraised to this. Such objections were in agreement with the idea that it was notpolitically convenient to hand the area back to the Chinese. Thus, once Kashgarhad been occupied, the region would most likely remain under Russian control, ifthere is no strong Chinese army in the vicinity.” 30The best route for the Ottoman delegation that was carrying aid to Kashgarwas through India. However, the delegation encountered many problems due tothe blockades in India that had been created by the British. 31 The prevention ofOttoman aid getting to Kashgar by the British, who preferred to remain passiveduring the occupation of Turkistan, from the very beginning to the end, and whomade use of developments in a pragmatic manner, is evidence that demonstratesthe real face of British policy.Seyyid Yakub Efendi, the Kashgar ambassador to Istanbul, was advised tomaintain good relations with Russia and to gain the support of Britain. AmirYakub Khan believed that it was necessary to maintain good relations with bothRussia and Britain. Yakub Khan, who was expecting a new attack from the Chineseborder, decided to send his ambassador to the Russian and British capitals, as he wasunable to establish a cordial relationship with the British governor in India or theRussian commanders in Tashkent. Seyyid Yakub Khan shuttled between Istanbul-St. Petersburg- London. 32 However, at this time the British administration andstatesmen had already made up their minds concerning Kashgar. Moreover, inthe beginning, although the ambassador received no negative reply in Istanbul orLondon, the promises were put off or ignored, thus buying time for the British. 33In 1876, the basin of Ili River, located to the west of Kulja, was occupied bytsarist forces in support of the Chinese. This region was later to constitute theborder between Russia and China, and remained intact even during both WorldWars. 34 Tso Tsung-Tang, the Chinese general in charge of Chinese raids onKashgar, completed all the preparations to bring the state down. He received the301