Revisiting Kemal Kaya in the turmoil of 1930s Xinjiang

Kemal Kaya is an Ottoman-born Turkish nationalist who played a contested role in the tumultuous Xinjiang region during the 1930s. Despite his involvement, the literature on Uyghur nationalism and Xinjiang during this period has yet to address his role in any meaningful depth. Conducting an atheoretical idiographic case study and content analysis, this study seeks to bridge this significant gap through the following questions: How did Türkiye and China interpret Kaya’s actions and motivations at the time? What do these perceptions reveal about the geopolitical complexities of Xinjiang during this period and the international dimensions of the region’s unrest? By contextualizing archival findings within the (geo)political and military developments in Xinjiang during the 1930s, this research offers a fresh perspective on Xinjiang’s (geo)political complexities, the region’s international dimensions unrest, and Kaya’s contested role in shaping its trajectory. Based on Chinese and Turkish archives alongside secondary sources, this study thereby focuses on Kaya’s political and military activities, particularly his involvement with the warlord Ma Zhongying and his contested identity as a potential Soviet or Japanese agent. Overall, the findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of Turkic nationalist movements abroad and the interplay of regional and global powers in shaping Xinjiang’s history.