TURKS ATTEMPTING TO STEM RUSSIAN ADVANCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16231, 17 May 1916, Page 7

TURKS ATTEMPTING TO STEM RUSSIAN ADVANCE.

ENEMY CONCENTRATING BEFORE ERZINGAN. THOUSANDS OF CHRISTIANS FORCED TO REPAIR ROADS. ATHENS. MAY 15. The Turks are alarmed at the Russian advance, and great efforts are being made to stem the attach before it reaches Erzingan. Many lines of trenches have been cut, but the Turks rely chiefly on their '4.7 in and 7in guns. The transit of artillery is difficult, but thousands of Christians are being forced to repair the Sivas-Erzingan Road and build parallel roads. Many German officers are present, with a stiffening of German troops. The defensive works at Diarbekr are being feverishly pushed on, as the capture of the headwaters of the Tigris would cut off the supply of Bagdad. Erzingan is a position of considerable military importance, with several large barracks and military factories. It is situated at an altitude of 3900 ft, near the western end of a rich, well-watered plain, through which flows the Kara Su, also known as the Western Euphrates. The distance by road west and south of Erzeroum is 86 miles. The town lie% about a mile from the right bank of the '"iver, which here runs in two wide channels crossed by bridges. The principal barracks and military hospital are at Karateluk on the plain and along the foothills some three miles to the north. The population is about 15,000. The principal manufactures are silk and cotton. A carriage road leads to Trebizond, and other routes to Sivas, Karahissar, Erzeroum, and Kharput. The town was almost destroyed by an earthquake in 1784. Sivas, about 230 miles west of Erzeroum. is situated in the broad valley of the Kizil -Irmak River, on one of its right bank tributaries, the Murdan Su. The population is estimated at 45,000, of whom fully two-thirds are Mahoramedans. There art- several Armenian churches of interest, a flourishing American mission .*'ith church ami schools, and a Jesuit mission. The town was the scene of a massacre of 4000 Armenians in the fourteenth century. From 1880 to 1882 Sivas was the residence of the British military Consul-General for Asia Minor, and at present is the seat of an American Vice-Consulate. The surrounding district, which has. an average elevation of 3500 ft, is rich in mineral wealth. Sivas is an important centre of caravan routes, and since 1883 has been connected by road by Way of ToK;it and Amasia, with the important Black Sea port of Samsun. Diaibi.kr, 150 miles south-west of Erzeroum, lies on a plateau on the right *>ank of the River Tigris, which here flows in a deep open valley. The town is still surrounded by the masonry walls of black basalt which once gave it the name of " Black Amid." These are well-built and imposing on the west, where • they face the open country, but almost in ruins where they overlook, the river. The population numbers 38,000. To the south, the walls are some 40ft high, , faced with large cut stone blocks of very solid construction, with towers and j .;0s Square bastions. A citadel enclosure stands at the north-east coiner of the town, Ji : but is now partly in ruins. In the 19th century Diabekr was one of the largest „■'.';% an d most flourishing cities of Asia Minor, and as a commercial centre now stands .';}], at the meeting- point of several important routes. There arc good roads to " ''];)i ;i i* -Aleppo, on the .Mediterranean coast, Samsun, on the Black Sea, and Mosul, on , , the way to Bagdad. '■•■ A.'.'SCj'*.. " ' -V;-i-y.i\:»;:<_:-.- ' ■ .•* .'■-■. '■: