Catoctin clarion., 1919-09-04
WANTS US. TO
Give II FREEDOM
Land Made Famous by Noah
Picks Mandatory.
EVER HEAR OF NAKH|CHEvAN?

Ararat, Where the Ark Landed, and
Is Inhabited by Tatars and Armeni-
ans-Diversity Of Population Pre-
sents Difficult Problem - Strong
Hand Necessary to Control the
Tribes.
Now add to the list Of states that
have asked the United States to he
their mandatory-Nakhich
"Never heard of Nakhichevan"
asks a bulletin from the National Geo
graphic society. swell, first consult
Genesis viii, 4. for the district in
question lies at the foot of Mount
Ararat and the town Of Nakhichevan
contains the alleged graveyard OF
Noah. The builder of the ark, local
tradition affirms, went down into the
land that now seeks the wing Of the
United States and died of thirst in the
parched plain after his ark had brok.
en- up on the snowy peak of the worlds
most famous mountain"
The bulletin continues with de.
scription of the region by Maynard
Owen Williams, who was the last
American to carry on relief work in
Armenia, to which land he went from
Nakhichevan just before Christmas
1917. Quoting Mr.. Williams, the bulle.
tin says:
Inhabited by Tatars.
"The Nakhichevan district, inhabit.
,l hxyT To- will
be bounded on the north by the Ar
menian district of Ervan. 1t is bound
ed on the south by the Arax river,
which is the subject of many an Ar
menian song, and which here forms
the boundary between Asiatic Russia
and Persia. In the hills to the north
east is Shusha, strong Armenian cen.
ter, where the Armenians held out
against a circle of foes in the summer
of 1918.
"When Russia's power in the eau
casus declined and the soldats flowed
back from the former Russian front
in Turkey through the Nakhichevan
district the additional hatred between
the Armenians Of the Erivan district
and the Mahonetan Tatars broke out
This closed the carriage road to Ia
briz and later closed the railway. AT
great risk several members of the
American Committee for Armenian
at Erivan, went to Tabriz an6
brought back several million rubles IL
u train that was so crowded with re
treating Russian soldats that one OF
the committee members, upholstered
with hundreds of thousands Of rubles
was forced to sleep on the roof Of the
car in temperature near zero. With
in week the railway service waa
stopped by Armenian-Tatar fighting.
1.-THE uprising Of the Nakhichevat
Tatars was iii timed. German propa
gandists had placarded the district
with posters exhorting these Tatars
who are related to the Turks and are
of the same religion, to rise agains'
the Armenians, whom the retreatins
Russians had left to their own de
vices. This they did. But the Arme
mans had spent the winter In raising
an army to take over the former Rus
sian front, and about $4,000 of these
volunteers were assembled in Erivan
''The Tatars advanced along the
railway (Tiflis to Tabriz) and me-,
serious resistance first at Kamarlyu
80 miles from the city Of Nakhichevan
There was some spirited fighting. ant
the Tatars were soon defeated. ant
at least one well was filed with theh
dead bodies. Women and children
We're not touched by the Armenians
BY circling between Kamarlyu ant
Mount Ararat along the wide plair
of the Arax the Tatars reached the
junction of Ulukhanlu and burned the
railway station there, also cutting the
european telegraph line, which
This necessitated the sending Of Vice
Consul Doolittle to Teheran in order
TO establish connection with Washing
ton at time when all Americans
were being forced to leave Tifis.
Tatar Villages Sacked.
"When crossed the Igdir plain
where Armenians are starving today
these much prosecuted people were
having their innings and the smoke
from score of burning Tatar vii
lagos could be seen. Tatars witt
arms>were allowed to live If they sur
rendered their guns, and women anC
children were not touched, but theiI
villages were looted and burned by
the Armenians. This was in March.
1919. All the Tatars retreated to the
Nakhichevan district, where they
formed majority of the population,
There they have remained. Hatred
between them and the Armenians is
strong, but, due to the greater strength
of the Armenians, there are no atroci.
ties.
''The whole problem is made diff.
cult by the diversity Of the papula.
tion. In the mountain villages the
Kurds are most numerous. A strong
hand will be necessary to control
these several tribes. The Kurds have
been forced to be butchers by the
Turks, who gave them guns as their
only tools and who kept agriculture
and education from them. Their con.
dition is as bad as that of the Arme-
mans, and when crossed the Turco-
Russian boundary I saw scores of
Kurds with only one garment and
barefoot, at an altitude of 1000 feet
In March,"
Is the glue on the back of War Saw