Farmers' champion. (Elgin, Okla.) 1912-1922, 1921-01-05
MADE FAMOUS BY NOAH,
WANTED u. S. TO MAKE
1T FREE.

One Of the states which asked the
United States to be Its mandatory Ii
Nakhichevan.
II you have not heard Of Nakhich-
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 alleged
graveyard Of Noah. The builder OF
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 brok.
en- up on the snowy peak Of the
worlds most famous mountain.
The Nakhichevan district. Inhabited
by Tartars. Is bounded on the north
by the Armenian district Of Erivan.
Along the south flows the Arax river.
which Is the subject Of many an Ar.
menian song and which here forms the
boundary between Asiatlc Russia and
Persia. In the hills to the northeast
Is Shusha, a strong Armenian center.
where the Armenians held out against
q circle Of foes in the summer Of 1913.
When Russia's power In the Caucasus
declined and the soldats flowed back
from the former Russian front In Tur-
key through the Nakhichevan district.
the traditional hatred between the Ar.
menians Of the Erivan district and
the MohammedaI Tartars broke out.
This closed the carriage road to
Tabriy 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 Tabrix and brought
back several million roubles In train
that was so crowded with retreating
Russian sOldats that one CT the COM
mittee members, upholstered with
hundreds Of thousands Of roubles, was
forced to sleep on the roof Of the car
In a temperature near zero. Within
week the railway service was stopped
by Armenian-Tartar fighting.
The uprising Of the Nakhichevan
Tartars was III timed. German prOpa.
gandlsts had placarded the district
with posters exhorting these Tnrtnrs,
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
menians had spent the winter In rats.
ing an army to take over the former
Russian front and about 25,OOO Of
these volunteers were assembled In
Erivan.
When the writer crossed the Igdir
plain, where Armenians are starving
today. these much persecuted people
were having their inning and the
smoke from a score Of burning Tar.
tar villages could be seen. Tartars
with arms were allowed to live n
they surrendered their guns, and
women and children were not touched.
hut their villages were looted and
burned by the ArmenIans. This was
IN March. 1910. All the Tartars re-
treated to the Nakhichevan district
where they formed majority of the
population. There they have re-
NAMED. Hatred between them and
the 'Armenians In strong,
The whole problem ID made dificult
by the diversity Of the population. In
the mountain villages the Kurds are
most numerous. A strong band will
be necessary to control these several
tribes. The Kurds have been forced
to he butchers by the Turks, who eave
them guns a. their only tools, and
who kept agriculture and education
from them. Theft coMation was ss
bad for time as that 81 the Arnle-
mans. and along the 1Ssko-Russian
boundary scores Of Kurds were 10 bs
seen with Only one garment and hare
foot q an altitude of seven thousand
test. u March.