The people of East Turkistan resisted the Chinese occupation for nearly a century, and in 1865, under the leadership of Yakup Han, they succeeded in expelling the Chinese forces from East Turkistan and established the Kashgar Emirate. Ammunition and military aid from the Ottoman state were sent to the Kashgar Emirate, also known as Kashgarya.

In 1877, the Chinese army in Russia's field launched a second operation to invade East Turkistan. Taking advantage of the power struggle that took place after Yakup Khan's death in 1877, the Chinese army occupied all of East Turkistan in a short time. In 1881, with the signing of Ili Treaty between Russia and China, East Turkistan was left to the Chinese administration, and in 1882, East Turkistan was named Xinjiang, which means ‘new land’.

In 1884, East Turkistan was declared a province of China. After the Manchu dynasty collapsed in 1911, East Turkistan became a region ruled by Chinese militants. Revolutions started again in 1931 in East Turkistan and the Islamic Republic of East Turkistan was established in Kashgar in 1933.

However, this established Republic was bloodily destroyed in February 1934 by the Chinese militant chief Sheng Shicai (1894-1970) with the support of the military units sent by the Stalin (1878-1953) administration to the region.

Sheng Shicai carried out massacres against the people of East Turkistan, especially the founders, scholars, and intellectuals of the Islamic Republic in 1937 and 1941.

The uprisings continued, and the Republic of East Turkistan was declared in Ghulja in November 1944. However, as Soviet Russia and China were among the victorious states in the Second World War and because of the intervention of the Stalin administration, the Republic of East Turkistan was abolished in 1949 by the occupation of the Chinese Communist Party.

Although the Chinese administration 1955 declared that it gave autonomy to East Turkistan on paper, it continued the regime of oppression and fear without putting the autonomy law to force. 

Since 1949, East Turkistan has been called Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the People's Republic of China.