Junaid Khan (Basmachi leader)

Part of a series on the
History of Turkmenistan
Antiquity Ancient history Jeitun culture Gonur Depe Oxus civilization Massagetae Median Empire Achaemenid Empire Seleucid Empire Greco-Bactrian Kingdom Parthian dynasty Kushan Empire Proto-Turks Sassanian Empire Kidarite Kingdom Hephthalite Empire
Middle Ages Islamic period Rashidun Caliphate Umayyads Abbasids Tahirids Saffarids Samanids Oghuz Turkomans Ghaznavid Empire Seljuk Turkomans Khwarazmians Mongol conquest Chagatai Khanate Ilkhanate Karts Timurids
Early modern history Khanate of Khiva Emirate of Bukhara Safavid Iran Turkmenistan in the 16th and 17th centuries Afsharid Iran Qajar Iran
Modern history Russian conquest and the Great Game Transcaspian Oblast October Revolution and Civil War Soviet rule Turkmenistan SSR After Independence
Related historical regions Hyrcania Sogdia Margiana Greater Iran Greater Khorasan Khwarazm Transcaspia Turkmenia
Turkmenistan portal
v t e

History of Uzbekistan
Prehistory Teshik-Tash 1 Scythian
Early history Sogdia Transoxiana Bactria
Medieval history Turkic Khaganate Onoq Türgesh Tang Protectorate Muslim conquest Umayyad Caliphate Abbasid Caliphate Samanid Empire Ghaznavids Kara-Khanid Khanate Anushtegin dynasty Khwarazmian Empire Mongol conquest Chagatai Timurid Empire Uzbek Khanate
Modern period Russian period Emirate of Bukhara Khorezm People's Soviet Republic Bukharan People's Soviet Republic Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic Since 1991
Topics relate By year Cities - Politics
Uzbekistan portal
v t e

Junaid Khan (Turkmen: Jüneýit han; full name: Muhammet Gurban); (b.1857/62–1938) was a Turkmen tribal leader who became the Chief of the Armed Forces and later the de facto and last ruler of the Khanate of Khiva.

Born into the Turkmen tribe of Yomut, Muhammet Gurban was the son of a tribal chieftain Khojibay, after whose death he assumed the leadership of the tribe. Gaining authority during the Turkmen uprisings of 1912-1916, Junaid was granted enormous power within the Khanate by the then Khan of Khiva Isfandiyar, who sought to lessen the growing Turkmen threat. However, after a short period of time Junaid arranged Isfandiyar's assassination and later enthroned the murdered Khan's uncle Sayid Abdullah as a puppet ruler, while himself becoming the real master of the Khanate.

Disillusioned with his ineffective policies that ultimately led to a new revolt, a number of influential leaders of other Turkmen tribes and Uzbek population appealed to the Bolsheviks, who were gaining a foothold in Russian Turkestan after the October Revolution. In 1919, under the pretext of assisting rebels, Bolsheviks invaded the Khanate and soon captured its capital Khiva. Junaid fled to the Karakum Desert with the remnants of his troops from where he organized active resistance to the emerging Soviet government.