Van Province

For other uses, see Van Province (disambiguation).

Van Province Van ili
Province of Turkey
Location of Van Province in Turkey
Country	Turkey
Region	Central East Anatolia
Subregion	Van
Government
• Electoral district	Van
Area
• Total	19,069 km2 (7,363 sq mi)
Population (2010-12-31)
• Total	1,035,418
• Density	54/km2 (140/sq mi)
Area code(s)	0432
Vehicle registration	65

Van Province (Turkish: Van ili) is a province in eastern Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. It is 19,069 km² in area and had a population of 1,035,418 at the end of 2010. Its adjacent provinces are Bitlis to the west, Siirt to the southwest, Şırnak and Hakkâri to the south, and Ağrı to the north. The capital is the city of Van. The majority of the province's population is Kurdish.

Districts

Van province is divided into 12 districts:

• Van (Central district. In 2014 it will be split into two districts; Tuşpa and İpekyolu.)
• Bahçesaray
• Başkale
• Çaldıran
• Çatak
• Edremit
• Erciş
• Gevaş
• Gürpınar
• Muradiye
• Özalp
• Saray

History

This area was the heartland of Armenians, who lived in these areas from the time of Hayk in the 3rd millennium BCE right up to the late 19th century when the Ottoman Empire seized all the land from the natives. In the 9th century BC the Van area was the center of the Urartian kingdom. The area was a major Armenian population center. The region came under the control of the Armenian Orontids in the 7th century BC and later Persians in the mid-6th century BC. By the early 2nd century BC it was part of the Kingdom of Armenia. It became an important center during the reign of the Armenian king, Tigranes II, who founded the city of Tigranakert in the 1st century BC. With the Seljuq victory at the Battle of Malazgirt in 1071, just north of Lake Van, it became a part of the Seljuq Empire and later the Ottoman Empire during their century long wars with their neighboring Iranian Safavid arch rivals, in which Selim I managed to conquer the area over the latter. The area continued to be contested and was passed on between the Ottoman Empire and the Safavids (and their subsequent successors, the Afsharids and Qajars) for many centuries afterwards, all the way up to during the 19th century.

Gallery

• 

  Haykaberd or Çavuştepe

• 

  Hoşap Castle

• 

  Muradiye Fall

• Medieval Armenian monasteries in the Van Province
• 

  The Armenian Cathedral of the Holy Cross (10th century) on Akdamar Island

• 

  The Armenian Monastery of Narek (10th century)

• 

  Varagavank Armenian monastery (11th century)

• 

  The Armenian Monastery of Saint Bartholomew (13th century)

• Islamic monuments in the Van Province
• 

  Ruined Ottoman mosque in the old ruined part of Van city (16th century)

• 

  Tomb of Halime Hatun in Gevaş (14th century)

• 

  Ruined Ottoman minaret in the old part of Van city

See also

• Ottoman Armenian Population
• Defense of Van (1915)
• 2011 Van earthquake
• Yazidis

External links

• Pictures of the capital of this province