The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1921-01-11
MADE FAMOUS BY NOAH3
WANTED u. S. TO MAKE
1T FREE.

One of the states which asked tn9
United States to be its mandatory 70
Nakhichevan.
If you have not heard of Naizfich-
evan, first consult Genesis S:4, for
the district In question lies at the
foot of Mt Ararat, and the town Of
Nakhichevan contains the aiiegeN
graveyard Of Noah. The builder ~
the Ark, local tradition afiirms went
down into the land that sought the
wing of the United States. There he
is said to have died of thirst In The
parched plain after his ark had bro's-
en- up on the snowy peak Of the
worlds most famous mountain
The Nakhichevan district. inhabiteu
by Tartars, is bounded on the north
by the Armenian district Of Erissn-
Along the south flows the Arax river,
which is the subject Of many an Ar
menian song and which here forms the
boundary between Asiatic Russia ana
Persia. In the hills TO the nortf1easf
is Shusha, strong Armenian center,
where the Armenians held out against
a circle of foes in thu summer Of 1918.
When Russia's power In the Caucasus
declined and the soldats flowed hack
from the former Russian front In Tur-
key through the Nakhichevan district,
the traditional hatred between the Ar
menians of the Erivan district ans
the Mohammedan Tartars broke out.
This closed the carriage road to
TabrIz and later closed the railway
A ,..s xyopaiprc tina
American Committee for Armenian
and Syrian Relief, with headquarters
at Erivan. went to Tabriz and brought
back several million rouhes in train
that was so crowded with retreating
Russian soldats that one of the COM
mittee members. upholstered with
hundreds Of thousands Of roubies. was
forced to sleep on the roof of the car
in temperature near zero Within a
week the railway service was stopped
by Armenian-Tartar fighting.
The uprising of the NalShichevan
Tartars was i'll timed German propa-
gandists had placarded the district
with posters exhorting these Tartars,
who are related to the Turks and are
of the same religion, to arise against
the Armenians, whom the retreating
Russians had left to their own de-
vices. This they did. But the Ar
rnenians had spent the winter in rails
ing an army to take over the former
Russian front and about $4,000 of
these volunteers were assembled in
Erivan.
When the writer crossed the Igdir
plain, where Armenians are starving
today, these much prosecuted people
were having their inning and the
smoke from score of burning Tar
tar villages could he seen. Tartars
with arms we're allowed to live II
they surrendered their guns, and
women and children were not Touched,
but their villages were looted and
surned by the Armenians. This was
n March, 1919. All the Tartars re-
.reated to the Nakhichevan district
where they formed a majority Of the
population. There they have re-
nalned Hatred between them ana
he Armenians Is strong.
The whole problem IS made difficult
~ the diversity Of the population In
he mountain villages the Eurds are
most numerous. A strong hand win
,e necessary to control these severed
ribes The Kurds have been forced
o be butchers by the Turks, who gave
hem guns as their only tools ana
Who kept agriculture and education
rom them Their condition was as
iad for time as that Of the Arule-
.ians, and along the Turko-Russian
scores Of Kurtls were to 5e
cen with only one garment and bare
oot at an altitude Of seven thousand
eet In March.