Abdulkerim Abbas (also russified as Abbasov; 1921 – 27 August 1949) was a Uyghur revolutionary, statesman, and educator active in Xinjiang, China, during the early 20th century.

Abbas, along with Ehmetjan Qasim, led the Marxist faction within the ETR, which in 1946 set aside the rebellion's declaration of independence and joined the Chinese nationalists in forming a provincial coalition government.

They and several other senior leaders of the ETR perished in August 1949 in a plane crash while traveling en route to Beiping (Beijing) where they were invited to participate in the Chinese communists' political consultative conference, which resulted in the founding of the People's Republic of China.

[1] In August 1938, Abbas enrolled in the High School of the Xinjiang Academy and studied under political science teacher, Lin Jilu, who was a Chinese communist.

In 1942, he was permitted to return home to Ghulja where he initially taught at the Ili High School for Girls and then served as an interpreter for the local government.

[1] Abbas and Soviet advisor Peter Romanovich Alexandrov led 60 men in seizing the bridge over the Ili River.

[8] The revolution drew support from Islamists, Pan-Turkic nationalists, and Marxists, and spread to Ili, Tarbaghatay (Tacheng) and Ashan (Altay).

[9] On 8 April 1945, the various guerilla and partisan units of the revolution were organized into the East Turkestan National Army (ETNA) and Abbas became its political director.

[4] The ETNA was a multiethnic army led by Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Russians, with Hui, Mongol and Xibe cavalry brigades, as well as some Han Chinese recruits.

With the support of Soviet advisors and military personnel, the ETNA launched a series of offensives to expand ETR control beyond the Ili Valley.

To improve the ETR's political bargaining position, Elihan Tore ordered the ETNA to accelerate attacks in early September.

[11] In mid-September, Abbas resumed the siege with reinforcements from the Soviet advisor Nasyrov and Tore's son,[11] but after weeks of desperate fighting, was forced to abandon the campaign on 6 October.

[4] On 1 August 1947, they founded the League for the Defense of Peace and Democracy in Xinjiang (新疆保衛和平民主同盟), which incorporated the DRP and other leftist groups in Ghulja.

[22]In the late summer of 1949, after Liu Shaoqi visited Moscow in June and persuaded Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to facilitate the transfer of Xinjiang through political means to the CCP, Deng Liqun arrived in Ghulja on 17 August to establish contact with the ETR leadership.

[23] Deng met with Abbas and Qasim and conveyed Mao's invitation to the political consultative conference in Beiping (Beijing), which the ETR leaders accepted.

[23] According to Chinese state sources, Abbas and Qasim, along with Ishaq Beg Munonov, Dalelkhan Sugirbayev, and Luo Zhi departed Ghulja for Beiping on 22 August 1949.

[23] The delegation, not wishing to miss the conference in Beiping, reportedly insisted on continuing the journey and departed Novosibirsk on 25 August 1949.

[26] In the spring of 1945, as fighting between the Chinese Nationalists and the ETNA intensified, Yang felt extreme familial and societal pressure.