Editing Van, Turkey (section)

==History==
[[File:UrartianCaldron02.jpg|thumb|An Urartian cauldron at the [[Museum of Anatolian Civilizations]]]]
Archaeological excavations and surveys carried out in [[Van Province]] indicate that the history of human settlement in this region goes back at least as far as 5000 BCE. The [[Tilkitepe Mound]], which is on the shores of Lake Van and a few kilometres to the south of [[Van Castle]], is the only source of information about the oldest culture of Van.

===Urartu===
[[File:Xerxes Cuneiform Van.JPG|thumb|[[Xerxes I inscription at Van|Inscription of Xerxes the Great]] on the cliffs below Van castle]]
Under the ancient name of ''[[Tushpa]]'', Van was the capital of the [[Urartu|Urartian kingdom]] in the 9th century BCE. The early settlement was centered on the steep-sided bluff now known as [[Van Fortress|Van Castle]] (''Van Kalesi''), close to the edge of Lake Van and a few kilometers west of the modern city. Urartian [[cuneiform]] inscriptions dating to the 8th and 7th centuries BCE have been found here. The name 'Van' comes from the [[Urartianlanguage|Urartian]] endonym ''Biaina''.<ref>Edmund Herzig, Marina Kurkchiyan, ''The Armenians: Past And Present In The Making Of National Identity'', p. 31.</ref> A "conservative" estimate by [[Charles A. Burney]] put the population of [[Tushpa]] and its suburbs at 50,000.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Burney |first1=Charles |author1-link=Charles A. Burney |title=Urartian Irrigation Works |journal=[[Anatolian Studies]] |date=December 1972 |volume=22 |pages=183 |doi=10.2307/3642562 |jstor=3642562 |s2cid=131657710 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/anatolian-studies/article/abs/urartian-irrigation-works/B4FEB0EC0A1B171F760D30841C29E19A |language=en |issn=2048-0849 |quote=The construction of the Menua canal would have made a population of fifty thousand in Van itself, the city and its garden suburbs, a conservative estimate. Since the population in the nineteenth century A.D. exceeded that figure, there is no need to suggest a smaller population in the Urartian capital.26 This may have reached its highest level under Rusa II...}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Çevik |first1=Özlem |title=The Change of Settlement Patterns in Lake Van Basin: Ecological Constrains caused by Highland Landscape |journal=[[:de:Altorientalische Forschungen|Altorientalische Forschungen]] |date=January 2005 |volume=32 |issue=1 |doi=10.1524/aofo.2005.32.1.74 |s2cid=163661607 |quote=According to Burney's conservative estimate, the population of Tushpa was 50.000 people.59 [Burney (1972,182).]}}</ref>

===Kingdom of Armenia===
The region came under the control of the [[Orontid dynasty|Orontids]] in the 7th century BCE and quickly later the [[Achaemenid Empire|Persians]] in the mid 6th century BCE. [[Van Fortress]], located outside Van city center, holds an inscribed stereotyped trilingual inscription of [[Xerxes the Great]] from the 5th century BCE upon a smoothed section of the rock face, some {{convert|20|m|ft|abbr=off}} above the ground near the fortress. The inscription survives in near perfect condition and is divided into three columns of 27 lines written in (from left to right) [[Old Persian]], [[Akkadian language|Babylonian]], and [[Elamite]]. In 331 BCE, Van was conquered by [[Alexander the Great]] and after his death became part of the [[Seleucid Empire]]. By the early 2nd century BCE it was part of the [[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Armenia]]. It became an important center during the reign of the [[Armenia]]n king, [[Tigranes II of Armenia|Tigranes II]], who founded the city of [[Tigranocerta|Tigranakert]] in the 1st century BCE.<ref>The Journal of Roman Studies – Page 124 by Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies</ref> In the early centuries BCE, it fell to the emerging [[Arsacid dynasty of Parthia]] until the 3rd century CE. However, it also fell once to the [[Arsacid dynasty of Armenia]] in this timespan. In the ''[[History of Armenia (Movses Khorenatsi)|History of Armenia]]'' attributed to [[Movses Khorenatsi]], the city is called ''Tosp'', from Urartian ''Tushpa''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://rbedrosian.com/Classic/kvan1.htm|title=The Kingdom of van (Urartu) by A. H. Sayce (Cambridge Ancient History vol. III, part 1), pp. 169-186. Urartian History. Remote and Classical Antiquity}}</ref>

===Byzantines, Sassanids, and the Artsrunis===
{{Main|Vaspurakan}}
{{Quote box
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| title = Historical affiliations
| fontsize = 90%
| quote = [[File:13-Urartu-9-6mta.gif|20px|border]] [[Urartu]] 832 BC–590 BC<br />
[[File:Yervanduni Armenia, IV-II BC.gif|20px|border]] [[Satrapy of Armenia]] 570 BC–321 BC<br />
[[Kingdom of Armenia (antiquity)|Kingdom of Armenia]] 
321 BC–428 AD<br />
[[Sasanian Armenia|Armenian Marzbanate]] 428–646<br />
[[File:Map of the Caucasus, 740 CE.svg|20px|border]] [[Arminiya]] 654–884<br />
[[Bagratid Armenia]] 884–1024<br /> 
↳[[Kingdom of Vaspurakan]] 908–1024<br />
[[Byzantine Empire]] 1024–1071<br />
[[Seljuk Empire]] 1071–1100s<br />
[[Mongol Empire]] 1240s–1330s<br />
[[File:Safavid Flag.svg|20px|border]] [[Safavid Empire]] 1502–1515, 1520–1548, 1604–1639<br />
[[File:Flag of Ottoman Empire (1517-1793).svg|20px|border]] [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] 1515–1520, 1548–1604, 1639–1916<br />
[[File:Flag of Armenia (1918–1922).svg|20px|border]] [[First Republic of Armenia|Republic of Armenia]] 1918–1920<br />
[[File:Flag of Turkey.svg|20px|border]] [[Eastern Anatolia Region|Turkey]] 1922–Present
}}
Following the fall of the Parthians and the emergence of the Neo-Persian Empire, better known as the [[Sassanian Empire]],<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/sass/hd_sass.htm The Met Museum Website: The Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE)]</ref> the town fell into the possession of the latter. During the over 700 years-long [[Roman-Persian Wars]], some of the wars were waged at and around the location of modern-day Van. The [[Byzantine Empire]] briefly held the region from 628 to 640, following the victory in the climactic [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628]], after which it was invaded by the Muslim Arabs, who consolidated their conquests as the province of [[Arminiya]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9lHeh36S8ooC&dq=arabs+consolidated+arminiya&pg=PT1462 The Cambridge Medieval History Series volumes 1–5 by Plantagenet Publishing, 2nd to last paragraph on the page linked to. (no page numbers shown on the online document)]</ref> Decline in Arab power eventually allowed local [[Armenians|Armenian]] rulers to re-emerge, with the [[Artsruni]] dynasty soon becoming the most powerful.<ref>[http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/artsruni-one-of-the-most-important-princely-families-of-armenia-an-offshoot-of-the-orontids-achaemenian-satraps-and-subsequ Iranica Online Website: Artsruni]</ref> Initially dependent on the rulers of the Kingdom of [[Ani]], they declared their independence in 908, founding the Armenian [[Kingdom of Vaspurakan]].<ref name="Armenian-History">[http://www.armenian-history.com/history/middle-ages/kingdom-of-vaspurakan Armenian History Website: Kingdom of Vaspurakan]</ref> The kingdom had no specific capital: the court would move as the king transferred his residence from place to place, such as Van city, Vostan, [[Aghtamar]], etc.<ref name="Armenian-History" /> In 1021 the last king of Vaspurakan, [[Senekerim-Hovhannes Artsruni|John-Senekerim Artsruni]], ceded his entire kingdom to the Byzantine empire, who established the Vaspurakan [[Theme (Byzantine administrative unit)|theme]] on the former Artsruni territories. Van was called Eua or Eva ({{langx|grc|Εύα}}) during Byzantine rule.<ref>{{Citation|last=Moulet|first=Benjamin|title=Chapitre I. Hiérarchie ecclésiastique et maillage du territoire|date=2016-12-15|url=http://books.openedition.org/psorbonne/1959|work=Évêques, pouvoir et société à Byzance (viiie-xie siècle) : Territoires, communautés et individus dans la société provinciale byzantine|pages=39–126|series=Byzantina Sorbonensia|place=Paris|publisher=Éditions de la Sorbonne|language=fr|isbn=978-2-85944-831-8|access-date=2021-07-11}}</ref>

===Seljuk Empire and Rum===
Incursions by the [[Seljuk Turks]] into Vaspurakan started in the 1050s. After their victory in 1071 at the [[battle of Manzikert]] the entire region fell under their control.<ref>"The Turks in History", Roderic H. Davison, ''Essays in Ottoman and Turkish History, 1774–1923: The Impact of the West'', (University of Texas Press, 1990), 3.</ref> After them, local Muslim rulers emerged, such as the [[Ahlatshahs]] and the [[Kurds|Kurdish]] [[Ayyubids]] (1207). For a 20-year period, Van was held by the [[Sultanate of Rûm|Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate]] until the 1240s when it was conquered by the [[Mongols]]. In the 14th century, Van was held by the [[Timurids]], followed subsequently by the Turkoman [[Kara Koyunlu]] and [[Ak Koyunlu]] confederations.

===Turco-Iranian rivalry and the Ottoman era===
{{See also|Eyalet of Van|Vilayet of Van}}
[[File:Wan,Mizgefta_Hezretî_Omer.JPG|thumb|Hz. Ömer Mosque in Van]]
[[File:Van,_Van_Merkez-Van,_Turkey_-_panoramio_(9).jpg|thumb|left|A replica of a 19th-century house]]

The first half of the 15th century saw the Van region become a land of conflict as it was disputed by the [[Ottoman Empire]] and the neighboring [[Persians|Persian]] [[Safavid|Safavid Empire]]. The Safavids captured Van in 1502, as it went naturally with all former territories of the Ak Koyunlu. The Ottomans took the city in 1515 following the climactic [[Battle of Chaldiran]] and held it for a short period. The Safavids retook it again in 1520 but the Ottomans gained an almost definite hold of it in 1548 during another Ottoman-Safavid War. Ottoman control over the town was confirmed in the 1555 [[Peace of Amasya]] which came as a result after the end of the war. They first made Van into a [[sanjak]] dependent on the [[Erzurum eyalet]], and later into a separate [[Van eyalet]] in about 1570. In 1604, the Safavids under king [[Abbas the Great]] recaptured Van alongside other swaths of lost territories in Eastern Anatolia. However, Ottoman control over it was at last now made final and definite in 1639 with the [[Treaty of Zuhab]].
[[File:Wan_Tournefort.png|thumb|Van from [[Joseph Pitton de Tournefort]]'s 1717 book ''Relation d'un voyage du Levant'']]
[[File:The Rock and Walled City of Van (1893).jpg|thumb|The rock and walled city of Van in 1893 by [[H. F. B. Lynch]]]]

During the early 1900s, the city of Van had eleven Armenian schools and ten Turkish schools.<ref name="Hewsen-2000">{{Armenian Van-Vaspurakan 2000|first=Robert H.|last=Hewsen|author-link=Robert H. Hewsen|page=40|title=2: 'Van in This World: Paradise in the Next' – The Historical Geography of Van/Vaspurakan <br> Armenian churches within the walled city included Saint Tiramayr ({{langx|hy|Սուրբ Տիրամայր}}), Saint Vardan ({{langx|hy|Սուրբ Վարդան}}), Saint Poghos ({{langx|hy|Սուրբ Պողոս}}), Saint Nshan ({{langx|hy|Սուրբ Նշան}}), Saint Sahak ({{langx|hy|Սուրբ Սահակ}}), and Saint Tsiranavor ({{langx|hy|Սուրբ Ծիրանաւոր}}); in Aygestan ({{langx|hy|Այգեստան}}), Haykavank ({{langx|hy|Հայկավանք}}), Norashen ({{langx|hy|Նորաշէն}}), Arark ({{langx|hy|Արարք}}), Hankoysner, and other quarters each had a church.}}</ref> Towards the second half of the 19th century Van began to play an increased role in the politics of the Ottoman Empire due to its location near the borders of the Persian, Russian and Ottoman Empire, as well as its proximity to Mosul. During the period leading up to the breakup of the Ottoman Empire, Armenians were well represented in the local administration.<ref>Hewsen 2000, p. 39.</ref>

====Ottoman Era demographics====
The demographics of Ottoman Van are a debated and contentious point as they relate directly to claims of ownership by either side prior to the outbreak of World War I. For the city of Van itself it has been estimated that it had around 50,000 inhabitants prior to World War I, of whom 30,000 were Armenian and 20,000 were Muslims. Based on the official 1914 Ottoman census, the population of Van province consisted of 179,422 Muslims and 67,797 [[Armenians]].<ref name=":0">Values as printed in the [[:File:Proportions des populations en Asie Mineure statistique officielle d1914.png|official statistics from 1914]].</ref> The Ottoman census figures include only male citizens, excluding women and children, and according to more recent research, an estimate for Van province (including women and children) is that it had 313,000 Muslims, 130,000 Armenians, and 65,000 others, including [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]].<ref>Justin McCarthy: ''Muslims and Minorities.'' New York University Press, 1983, p. 110 f.</ref>

The demographics of Van are a greatly debated point also given the changing provincial borders. For example, in 1875 the province was divided; Van and Hakkari were separated, only to be rejoined in 1888, drastically changing the census numbers. Some writers argue that this merging was done to keep the Armenians from forming a majority.<ref>Hewsen 2000, p. 35.</ref> In 1862 it was estimated that in Van there were 90,100 Christians (including [[Syriac Christianity|Syriac Christians]]) and 95,100 Muslims.<ref>{{Armenian Van-Vaspurakan 2000 |last=Ter Minassian |first=Anahide |author-link=Anahide Ter Minassian |title=10: The City of Van at the Turn of the Twentieth Century |p=179}}</ref> The French Consul in Van reported that in Van and Bitlis 51.46% were [[Kurds]], 32.70% were [[Armenians]] and 5.53% were Turks.<ref>Ter Minassian, ch.10, p. 180.</ref> On the other hand, the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople estimated 185,000 [[Armenians]] in Van, 18,000 [[Assyrian people|Assyrians]], 72,000 [[Kurds]], 47,000 [[Turkish people|Turks]], 25,000 [[Yezidis]], 5,000 [[Zazas]] and 3,000 [[Gypsies]].<ref name=":1">Ter Minassian, ch.10, p. 181.</ref> Both sides have been accused of over-counting the numbers at the time given the [[Armenian genocide]] and population statistics became important during the [[Berlin Conference]].<ref>Sarkis Y. Karayan: "Demography of Van Province, 1844–1914". In: [[Richard G. Hovannisian]]: ''Armenian Van/Vaspurakan''. Mazda Publishers, Costa Mesa/CA 2000, p. 196.</ref>

===The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878===
During this war the [[Kurds|Kurdish]] Sheikh Jelaludin led thousands of soldiers to massacre [[Armenians]] of the province and destroyed and plundered many of their villages.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sophenearmeniaca.com/2019/03/06/who-was-sheikh-jalaleddin/ |title=Who Was Sheikh Jalaleddin? |access-date=11 March 2019 |archive-date=26 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026104537/https://www.sophenearmeniaca.com/2019/03/06/who-was-sheikh-jalaleddin/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> These events are described in ''Armenia and the Campaign of 1877'' by British war correspondent Charles B. Norman and in the fictional novella [[Jalaleddin (novella)|''Jalaleddin'']] by the Armenian novelist [[Raffi (novelist)|Raffi]] in very similar terms.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sophenearmeniaca.com/2019/01/06/jalaleddin-and-the-russo-turkish-war-of-1877-1878/ |title=Jalaleddin and the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 |access-date=11 March 2019 |archive-date=24 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724153530/https://www.sophenearmeniaca.com/2019/01/06/jalaleddin-and-the-russo-turkish-war-of-1877-1878/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===World War I and Armenian genocide===
{{Main|Defense of Van (1915)}}
[[File:Old City Van 2009.JPG|thumb|left|220px|Ruins of the old walled city of Van seen from the castle rock]]
The [[Armenian genocide]] in Van Province started in late 1914 with attacks by the Ottoman Empire's [[Special Organization (Ottoman Empire)|Special Organization]] and affiliated paramilitaries.<ref name=":2">{{cite book |last1=Akçam |first1=Taner |title=A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility |date=2006 |publisher=Metropolitan Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8050-7932-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/shamefulactarmen00ak |page=140}}</ref> The regional Albanian administrator, [[Djevdet Bey]], was reported to have said that "We have cleansed the [[Armenians]] and [[Assyrian people|Syriac Christians]] from [[Azarbaijan]], and we will do the same in Van".<ref name="Akçam, 201">Akçam, p. 201.</ref> Numerous reports from Ottoman officials, such as a parliament deputy, the governor of [[Aleppo]] as well as the German consul in Van, suggested that deliberate provocations against the Armenians were being orchestrated by the local government.<ref name="Akçam, 201" /> In mid-April 1915, Cevdet Bey ordered the execution of four Armenian leaders,<ref>Morgenthau, Henry. ''Ambassador Morgenthau's Story'', p. 205. Wayne State University Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-8143-2979-9}}</ref><ref>Ussher, Clarence Douglass. ''An American Physician in Turkey''. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1917, p. 236.</ref> and he demanded that all Armenian males of military age gather before him, which drove the Armenians to take up arms in self-defense.<ref>{{Armenian Van-Vaspurakan 2000 |last=Ter Minassian |first=Anahide |author-link=Anahide Ter Minassian |title=12: Van 1915 |pp=225–226}}</ref> On the other hand, historian and sociologist [[Taner Akçam]] acknowledges that in the case of Van, the deportations may have been driven by military necessity<ref>Akçam, p. 202.</ref> and states the resistance in Van should be examined as a separate case.<ref>Akçam, p. 200.</ref>
[[File:ATD of the regions of Turkey occupied by Russian troops during WW1.png|thumb|Van region in the administrative-territorial division of the regions of Turkey occupied by Russian troops during World War I 1916–1917]]

In April 1915, as slaughter was being inflicted upon the rural populations surrounding Van, the Armenian residents of the city [[Defense of Van (1915)|launched a rebellion]] hoping to avoid the same fate, defending themselves in the Armenian quarters of the city against the Turks.<ref name="gens">The Banality of Indifference: Zionism and the Armenian Genocide – Page 42 by Yaïr Auron</ref> The Russians finally relieved the Armenian defenders of Van in late May 1915 and local Armenians gave the keys of the city to Russian general [[Nikolai Yudenich]] on May 21. In August, a victory over the Russian army allowed the Ottoman army to retake Van. In September 1915, the Russians forced the Turks out of Van for the second time. Russian forces began to leave the area after the [[October Revolution]] in Russia in 1917, and by April 1918, it was recaptured by the Ottoman army again. According to Taner Akçam, citing the ''Osmanli Belgelerinde Ermeniler 1915–1920'' (Armenians in Ottoman Documents, 1915–1920), after the Turks took back the city from the Russians, they killed the Armenian population in the city.<ref>Akçam, p. 140.</ref> [[Clarence Ussher]], an American physician and missionary in Van, and an eye-witness to the events, reported that 55,000 Armenians had been killed.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rubenstein|first=Richard L.|title=Jihad and genocide|year=2010|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|location=Lanham, Md.|isbn=978-0742562028|page=51|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NYez6YcL-B8C|edition=1st pbk.}}</ref><ref name="Sjacobs">{{cite book|last=L. Jacobs|first=Steven|title=Confronting Genocide: Judaism, Christianity, Islam|date=Jun 30, 2009|page=130|publisher=Lexington Books |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H2UdOMWoQ2MC|isbn=9780739135907}}</ref> The end of World War I forced the Ottoman army to surrender its claim to Van.

===Turkish War of Independence and Republic===
[[File:Iskele_St._Van.JPG|thumb|left|220px|Streets of the city center]]
[[File:IOC Offshore Van Grand Prix 2010.JPG|thumb|IOC Offshore Van Grand Prix 2010]]
[[File:Festîvala u Behra Wanê.JPG|thumb|Festival of Van lake 2011]]
In the [[Treaty of Sèvres]], the [[Allies of World War I|Entente Powers]] decided to cede the city to the [[First Republic of Armenia]]. [[Turkish revolutionaries]], led by [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]], rejected the terms of the treaty and instead waged the [[Turkish War of Independence]]. However, the idea of ceding Van to the Armenians was floated, and [[İsmet İnönü]] was said to have surveyed army officers on 14 October 1919 on the issue of ceding Van and [[Bitlis]]. However, the parliament in Ankara rejected any compromise on this issue.<ref>Akçam, Taner. "A shameful Act." Translated by Paul Bessemer. Metropolitan Books, New York. 2006.</ref>{{Page needed|date=September 2010}} By 1920, Van fell under Turkish control again and its remaining Armenian inhabitants were expelled in a final round of [[ethnic cleansing]].<ref name="gens"/> With the [[Treaty of Lausanne]] and [[Treaty of Kars]], the Treaty of Sèvres was annulled and Van remained de facto under Turkish sovereignty.

By the end of the conflicts, the town of Van was empty and in ruins. The city was rebuilt after the war a few kilometers east of the ancient citadel, which is now known as [[Van Castle]] (''Van Kalesi''). The city now lies at about {{convert|1,750|m|0|abbr=off}} above sea level.