The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1921-08-05
SNAS, CAPITAL
ASIATIC TURKEY

Washington. d. c.. Aug. 5.-"If
the so-called 'Angora Government of
the Turkish Nationalists has left An.
CORA and shifted its capital to Sivas,
as dispatches state, following the de-
feat of its armies by the Greeks in
Asia Minor. ii has truly moved into
the Turkish back country" says
lulletin from the Washington, ID. c.,
headquarters of the National Geo
graphic Society. In fact II might
almost be said to have moved from
the twentieth century into the thr'
tecnth. Anger is the rail head OF
the only steel highway that penetrates
northern Asia Minor. Beyond this
outpost of the age of machinery the
country is wholly dependent for trans
portation on the camel and other
heasts of burden, operating over
roads that are far from good. Sivas
lies more than 200 miles east of An
eora and over 100 miles south OF the
Black Sea.
The city exists, however, in a re-
gion that reached a very high state
4 development long before the smoke
of putting locomotives ever darkened
an Asian landscape. and il is no
mean city, as cities 20 in its part
OF the world 1t is credited with a
population of $4,000, and is therefore
OF about the size Of Little Rock, Ark,
and Sacramento Cal, cities with
which it has the further point in
l 1, 4. 20 al.
| state or vilayet.
May BE Turkish Ruhr
Sivas is situated on a high pla
teau which is bleak and even frigd
! in winter when the blasts from the
| stcppes of central Asia swirl around
and over the Caucasus and give the
region climate comparable to the
snow.swept plains Of Russia. But il
| is by no means a waste country The
grain of the plateaus of the 'Nilayet
OF Sivas and the fruits from its val
leys help 10 feed the less favored
sections Of Turkey. 1t is rich in cop
per, iron, coal and other valuable
minerals and if an industrial Tur-
key ever rises Sivas may be its ST.
esia or its Ruhr.
When Rome was the ruling power
in the world, Sivas (then Sebasteia
was one of its chief border cities. Ar
mcnian kings ruled it for awhile, ana
Under the Byzantines it was the sec
end most important city in Asia
Minor, being surpassed only by Cae'
sarea to the southwest
IF in a union station for camel
caravans in the Bagdad of Harun.al
Rashid's day there was the counter
part OF the train.crier of today, 81
vas must have been often on his
lips, for it lies in a strategic position
between Bagdad and points west.
tropolis of the Seljuk Turks Empire
in Asia before they moved westward
and captured Constantinople.
When Marco Polo visited the city
in the thirteenth century it was one
OF the show places of the Near East
and had a population of about 100, 900
At that time the city was noted FOL
its fine rugs and carpets. but now
that industry has passed farther west
One Of the Most heartless Acts IN
History
When the Seljuks had the seat o
their empire in Sivas their architec
tural arts flourshed. The colleges
which they built there in the thir
'oenth century are among the fines
lomains of Moslem art TO be found II
a sia Minor.
Perhaps the most despicable ac
Of cruelty perpetrated on q sacke,
city, even in a part Of the worlt
where cruel tyrants have been MI
merous, was inflicted on Sivas II
lAO0 by the notorious Timur-the.Lame
He caused a thousand children TO h
trampled to death under the hoof
of his war horses. and followed thi
inonstrous proceeding by having 400
of the defeated Armenian defender
Of the city buried alive. Since
went through that narrowing exper
once the city has never risen 10
position Of any great Importance"