THE CAPTURE OF BITLIS.

Taranaki Daily News, 8 March 1916, Page 4

THE CAPTURE OF BITLIS.

Owing to the sensational lighting at Verdun it is more than probable that the successful operations of the Russians in, Armenia and Mesopotamia are not ieceiviiij; the attention they deserve. It may be that the capture nf Bitlis aroused momentary satisfaction,' but very little notice lias been taken of what is really a moßt important item in the programme of the Allies, and this is undoubtedly due to the fact that the majority of the public have only a faint idea of the connection which exists between the operations in this war iboahe and I hose in the other theatres. Yet tbc=e operations are quite as essential tn (lie Allies' programme as are those in the Balkans and in Flanders, Bitlis li-'s in Eastern Armenia, and is the capital of the vilayet of the same name. It slf.nds in a huge ravine surraunded by hil'; over 2000 ft high. The toicn lies at an altitude of ,4700 ft on the I'itlis Chni, a tributary of the Tigris. Its population numbers 40,000, of which some 13,000 are Armenians and the remainder Kurds. The town has a lengthy history, for it was one of the halting place of Alexander the Great on his conquering westerly march, while in 1551 ♦he Persians defeated Solyman the Mag nificent here. The town suffered gr?atlv from violent earthquakes nine years ago. There are no railways in the vilayet, but fair roads lead northward to Mush and Erzerum, and southward to the Tigris and Mosul, The whole district is a tangled mass of plateau and mountain, very difficult to fight a way through in the face of a determined foe, while the Kurdish tribesmen are a perpetual thorn' in the side of an invader. Lake Urmia, where the Turkish troops are practically cut off from their base, lieg across the Persian frontier to the westward of Tabriz. It is a salt lake, the shores being lined by huge marshes. The operations which ended in the capture of Bitlis were practically a replica of those at Erzerum. As Bitlis is only one hundred and fifty miles from the Persian border it will se?m that Ui. Russians have penetrated deeply into Turkish territory, and inflicted anoiher heavy blow on the Turks, besides e'.iaring the whole of the Lake Vau re'foii, separatiii'. the Turks operating in the north-western Persia from the army in Armenia, and bringing the llus'ians to within ii hundred miles of the Tigris. It must be remembered that Russia has three si.parate forces operacing iu th;& region, nr.d that one of the l : recently stormed and captured Kermanshah, the principal gateway from the Turkish En:pi:(i into Persia, so tiuu there if little r.ecd for anxiety now as to the situation in Persia. At Kermam'iah the Russians are about 150 miles to thu north-eait of Kut-el-Amnra, so that there is «n reason why they snould not advance upon Bagdad in conjunction with the British advance from the south, for they are as near Bagdad as are the British. From these facts it will be seen that the Russ ; an successes in Armenia are of the utmost importance, an.-l the further advance of tktir forces should be watched wic.li great int' vest.