Great Falls daily tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1895-1921, 1919-12-26
Kali Bey Who Nomin-
ally Controls Tartars,
Tells Americans His
Hordes Prefer Force.
10000 Armenians Hem
med in and Bound to
Starve if They Survive
Winter Battles.
BY PAXTON HIBBiN.
Gable to Great Falls Daily Tribune and
Chicago Tribune.
CnnvriDht 1919

Copyright 1919.
Nakhitchevan, Caucasus, Dec. H.
Delayed Tartar troops have sur
rounded the Armenian district Of Zan-
gezur and the 1900 Armenians still
there, even if not defeated in battle.
are almost certain to starve before
spring
A combined attack is under way in
this mountain country by Tartar bands
in a concerted Pan-Moslem movement
and is being made On three sides
Tartar irregulars are encamped along
the railroad connecting Erivan with
Tabriz through Nakhitchevan. This road
has not been operating since British
troops withdrew from the latter place.
On this line hostilities have broken out
between the Tartars and Armenians and
in Zangibassar, near Etchmiadzin. the
head of the Armenian church. Sporadic
fighting has been going on for some
time. At Hassan-She, % miles from the
Erivan-Tabriz railroad, deserters from
the army of Mustapha Kennel Pasha
are encamped within striking distance
If the railroad and the one highway
which connects the Armenian capital
with the Zangezur district.
The prime minister Of Armenia has
stated that he cannot ride four miles
from the capital in safety. owing to the
To the south Of Nakhitchevan, Tartars
armed with Lewis machine guns and of
ficers of Turkish troops. are massed.
At Skikili. only % miles from Tiflis,
Tartar bands held an American officer
on duty with the Haskell mission for
several hours. They asked him if Erivan
had been taken
The Tartar movement IS under the
nominal control of Kali Bey. but Enver
Pasha. whose headquarters are in Baku.
and who masduerades under the name
If Mastapha Gadji kouli. Nuri Pasha
and Eub Bey. is believed to be the real
director Deserters from Mustapna
Kennel Pasha's army are now under
Kali Bey's command.
will Defy Peace Conference.
Khalil Bey has refused American me-
diation attempted by Colonel James G.
Rhea. deputy to Colonel William Haskell,
allied high commander in TransC CaEcasia.
''The Tartars have taken Nakhitchevan
and Sharur by force and will keep them
by force if need be-" khalil Bey replied
to Colonel Rhea. I'VE shall accept no
decision r of the peace .s conference t1;tnnn that
Colonel Rhea had obtained the sup
port of the Tartar government at Azer-
baidjan and the Armepians to the erec-
ton Of neutral zone west of Iangezur.
which included the disputed provinces of
Nakhitchevan and Sharur. khslil re-
fused to pay any attention to the Aver
baidian government. to which ne claims
allegiance As if to emphasize the in
difference Of the Tartars to the decisions
Of the peace conference. American off
GERS we're held up three times in this
territory b1 the sentries. American
automobiles were fired upon at Axibaar.
in No Mans Land.
Tartars Trust American.
Colonel Rhea left with the Tartars as
his representative, Colonel Edmund J.:
Daley. who has already accomplished
considerable towards averting war. he
has assisted in arranging the exchange
Of prisoners and is repairing the Erivan-
Tabriz railroad SO that communications
may be reopened with the isolated Ar
menians in Zangezur, 8 well as with the
Tartars themselves. The Tartars trust
him. but he has no authority except that
of the moral force of square dealing
and that does not so very far in this
country.
The Moslem-Circasia mountainecrs
of Daghestan. are fighting Denikine on
the Terek river. Moslem kurds control
OIti 80 miles south Of Batoum. From
the Black Sea in great three-quarters
circle along the borders of Russian Ar
menia, through Baku to Petrovik on the
Caspian, and to Grosnaya, east of Vladi-
kavkas. the Moslems are united and pre-
pared to fight for Islam.
The differences between Enver and
Kennel, the leader of Turkish national
ism, is purely personal. The day that
these differences are set aside, for the
common end of defending the Moslem
faith, the armies of Islam cross the Cau-
casus mountains and ring Armenia and