In Elisavetpol, the situation was equally critical. Both the province and its administrative centre, called interchangeably Elisavetpol, Ganja, and Gandzak, were divided into distinct Armenian and Moslem sectors. The vital Baku-Tiflis railway ran through the Moslem quarter of the city. Following the "Shamkhor Massacre" the relations between Tatars and Armenians had deteriorated into sporadic warfare. To arrest the strife in this strategic neighbouring province, the Moslem and Armenian councils of Baku selected a mixed commission which reached Elisavetpol in mid-March. During the ensuing inquiry, local Armenians complained bitterly that they had been subjected to an economic boycott for over a month. The Moslems prohibited the movement of any provisions from the railway depot into the Armenian quarter, and the city's main market, located in the Tatar sector, was closed to Armenians. Furthermore, a group of Armenian soldiers, somehow managed to reach Gandzak, had been ambushed on the way from the railroad to the Christian quarter. When several men were killed, the survivors retaliated by firing on any Moslem in sight. On their part, the Tatars of Ganja accused the Armenians of perfidy. The Transcaucasian Military Council in Tiflis had allotted the Moslems of Elisavetpol all goods and weapons left by the 269th Russian Regiment. Some of these supplies, mainly shells and bullets, were in the Tatar quarter of the city, but almost all rifles, uniforms, tenting, and complementary material were located in the Armenian neighbourhoods. The Christians, violating the arrangements of the Tiflis government, had refused to relinquish these goods. Armenian members of the Baku peace mission proposed a compromise whereby, except for the rifles, all stores of the 269th Regiment would be transferred to the Moslem sector and, after calm had been restored, the weapons, too, would be delivered. In return, the Tatars would lift their economic blockade and supply the Armenians with essential provisions. The plan was rejected by the Moslems and even more emphatically by the Armenians, who refused to giver even a single tent peg to the "Turks." 69
Talks had reached an impasse when a deputation of the Tiflis government arrived in the highlands. Gerasim Makharadze, controller of Transcaucasian military resources, with this Armenian and Moslem colleagues, Avetik Sahakian and Hamin Bek Shahtakhtinsky, haggled with the mountaineers for two days before a compromise was finally adopted on Marc 22. Makharadze promised the Moslems abundant weapons from the general reserves in Tiflis. The Armenians were to relinquish all property of the 269th Regiment except for the rifles in return for flour, sugar, and other foodstuffs. It seemed that the crisis had been surmounted, for on March 24 a train carrying Armenians travelled unhindered from Elisavetpol to Baku for the first time in over two months. 70 Coinciding with the Trabizond Conference, the bloodshed in Yerevan province, Ardahan, and Elisavetpol naturally intensified the mutual distrust within the Transcaucasian peace delegation and Seim. But the greatest upheaval had not yet occurred when Kachaznouni, Laskhishvili, and Haidarov began their return voyage to Trabizond. That carnage was to burst forth in Baku.
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