Van, Turkey

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Van (Kurdish: Wan, Armenian Վան) is a city in eastern Turkey and the seat of Van Province, and is located on the eastern shore of Lake Van. The city's population according to the 2000 census was 225,628.[www.van.gov.tr] Kurds form the majority.[Distribution of Kurdish People] — GlobalSecurity.org. No census based on ethnicity is held in Turkey.

Contents

1 Features
2 History
3 Famous people from Van
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

Features

The modern city is located on the plain extending from the Lake Van, at a distance of 5 kilometers from the lake shore.

It has often been called "The Pearl of the East" because of the beauty of its surrounding landscape. Another expression in the same sense is, dünyada Van, ahirette iman, which can roughly be translated as "Van for this world, faith for the next".

The city is home to Van Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi (Van 100th Year University) and recently came to headlines in Turkey for two highly mediatized investigations initiated by the Prosecutor of Van, one of which was focused on accusations against the university rector, Prof. Yücel Aşkın, who was kept in custody for a time.

In culinary terms, as some cities in Turkey became renowned for their like kebap culture or else, Van has distinguished itself with its breakfast culture.

The Turkish Van cat breed is native to this town and was named after it.

History

Under the ancient name of Tushpa, Van was the capital of the Urartian kingdom in the 9th century BC. Its ancient inhabitants called themselves Nairi. The city was a major Armenian center. The area of Van became once more an important center during the reign of the Armenian king, Tigranes II, who founded the city of Tigranakert in the 1st century BC. The region came under the control of the Medes in the early 7th century BC and later by Persians in mid 6th century BC.

The Van region was conquered by Alexander the Great in 331 BC , and after his death,became part of the Seleucid Empire. By early 2nd century BC it was part of the Kingdom of Armenia. Its later conquerors were the Parthians succeeded by the Romans. The Sassanids finally gained control of the area in the 4th century.

The Byzantine Empire hold briefly the region from 628 to 640 , when it was captured by the Arabs , who founded the Armenia (Ermeniye) province. Following the Sajids in 9th century the Byzantines regained control in 10th century and established the Vaspurakan thema.

The Seljuks conquered this region in 1054. After them the region was ruled by the Ahlatshahs and the Ayyubids(1207). After 20 years Van was captured by Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate until 1240s when it was conquered by the Mongols. In the 14th century Van was captured by Kara Koyunlu and later the Timurids.

The first half of the 15th century saw the region of Van violently disputed by two powers, namely the Ottoman Empire and the Safavids. Safavids captured Van in 1502. The Ottomans took the city in 1515 held it for a short period. The Safavids took it again in 1520 and Ottomans gained final and definite control of the city in 1548 and at first, made Van into a sanjak depending the Erzurum eyalet, and later a separate Van eyalet in about 1570.

The city's traditional Armenian populations were devastated in World War I by Ottoman troops as a part of the Armenian Genocide. According to Turkish accounts, with Russian forces approaching Lake Van, the regional administrator ordered the execution of five Armenian leaders and a revolt resulted in Van on April 20, 1915 against the Turks and in favor of the Russians. However, most historians agree that the Armenians, hoping to avoid slaughter, fled to the mountains of Van to defend themselves against the Turks. The anti-Turkish and pro-Russian sentiments were in the hopes of being rescued from Turkish massacres. The Russians finally captured Van in late May of 1915.

In August, a victory over the Russian army allowed the Ottoman army to advance back to Van. A brutal battle was fought resulting in the capture of the town by the Ottoman army and the deaths of thousands of Armenian defenders^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. Then in September of 1915 the Russians forced the Turks out of Van for the second time. Van was briefly part of the First Republic of Armenia in 1917 but then was recaptured by the Ottoman army in April of 1918.

By the end of the war, the town of Van was empty and in ruins. The new city was rebuilt after the war some distance away from the old city.

Famous people from Van

Bedros Kapamacıyan (Ottoman Armenian mayor of Van assassinated by a Tashnak team on 10 December 1912 - see Assassinations committed by Armenian nationalists)
Münip Boya (Armenian deputy in the Ottoman parliament between 1914-1918 and in the Turkish Grand National Assembly between 1923-1927)
Ruhi Su (Turkish folk singer)
Vankulu Mehmed Efendi (author of the first printed book in Turkish - a dictionary)

References

External links

	Districts of Van
Van \| Bahçesaray \| Başkale \| Çaldıran \| Çatak \| Edremit \| Erciş \| Gevaş \| Gürpınar \| Muradiye \| Özalp \| Saray