Van Province

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Van is a province in eastern Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. It is 19,069 km² in area and has a population of 1,012,707.

Its adjacent provinces are Bitlis to the west, Siirt to the southwest, Şırnak and Hakkari to the south, and Agri to the north. The capital is Van. The province and the surrounding area is the home of famous Van kedisi (Van cat).

Districts

Van province is divided into 12 districts (district capitals in bold):

• Bahçesaray
• Başkale
• Çaldıran
• Çatak
• Edremit
• Erciş
• Gevaş
• Gürpınar
• Muradiye
• Özalp
• Saray
• Van

History

In the 9th century BC, the Van area was the center of the Urartian kingdom . With the Seljuk victory at the Battle of Malazgirt in 1071, just north of Lake Van , it became a part of Seljuk Empire and later the Ottoman Empire. During the Ottoman rule, the area was a major Armenian population center. During World War I, some of the Ottoman Armenian population sided with Russian and the Armenian forces. There were many Armenian uprisings in the empire, and in Van, which resulted in the deaths of Turks, Kurds, and Armenians.

See also

• Ottoman Armenian Population
• Van Resistance

Notes

External links

• Pictures of the capital of this province
• Gertrude Bell's diary on February 7, 1909

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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 13:17:12 PDT (GMT -0700)
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