The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1919-12-03
WANTS U.S.TO
Give IT FREEDOM
Land Made Famous by Noah
Picks Mandatory.
EVER HEAR OF NAKHICHEvAN?

sents Difficult Problem Strong
Hand Necessary to Control the
Tribes.
Now add to the list of states that
have asked the United States to be
their Observation-Disclosures.
"Never heard of NakhlchevanT'
asks bulletin from the National Geo
graphic society. "Well, 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 a 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.
1.-THE Nakhichevan district, inhabit-
ed by Tatars, when peace comes will
be bounded on the north by the Ar
menian district of Erivan. 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 Mahometan 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
and Syrian Relief, with headquarters
at Erivan, went to TabriZ and
brought back several million rubles in
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 a temperature near zero. With
in a week the railway service was
stopped by ArmeIian-Tatar fighting.
1.-THE uprising of the Nakhichevan
Tatars was ill 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 against
the Armenians, whom the retreating
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 We're assembled in Erivan,
"The Tatars advanced along the
railway (Tifis to Tabriz) and met
serious resistance first at Kamarlyu,
so miles from the city of Nakhichevan.
There was some spirited fighting, and
the Tatars were soon defeated, and
at least one well was filled with their
ohiI
were not touched by the Armenians
By circling between Kamarlyu and
Mount Ararat along the wide plain
of the Arax the Tatars reached the
junction of Ulukhanlu and burned the
railway station there, also cutting the
Indo-European telegraph line, which
joins Tifiis to the rest of the world,
This necessitated the sending of Vice
Consul Doolittle to Teheran in order
to establish connection with Washing.
ton at a time when all Americans
were being forced to leave Tifiis.
Tatar Villages Sacked.
"Whsn | 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 viii
lagos could be seen. Tatars with
arms were allowed to live if they sur
rendered their guns, and women and
children were not touched, but their
villages were looted and burned by
the Armenians. This was in March,
1919. All the TatarS retreated to the
Nakhichevan district, where they
formed a 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.
1.-THE whole problem is made diff
cult by the diversity of the popula-
ton. 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-