Van Province

Van Province (Turkish: Van ili; Kurdish: Parezgêha Wanê‎;[3] Armenian: Վանի մարզ) 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,[4] and has a sizable Azerbaijani minority (Küresünni).[5][6] The current Governor is Mehmet Emin Bilmez.[7]

For other uses, see Van Province (disambiguation).
Van Province

Van ili
Province of Turkey
Location of Van Province in Turkey
CountryTurkey
RegionCentral East Anatolia
SubregionVan
Government
 • Electoral districtVan
 • GovernorMehmet Emin Bilmez
Area
 • Total19,069 km2 (7,363 sq mi)
Population
 (2018)[1]
 • Total1,123,784
 • Density59/km2 (150/sq mi)
Area code(s)0432[2]
Vehicle registration65

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.[8] In the 9th century BC the Van area was the center of the Urartian kingdom.[9] 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.[10] With the Seljuq victory at the Battle of Malazgirt in 1071, just north of Lake Van,[11] 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 when it became the Van Vilayet.

In Turkey

In 1927 the office of the Inspector General was created, which governed with martial law.[12] The province was included in the first Inspectorate General (Umumi Müfettişlik, UM) over which the Inspector General ruled. The UM span over the provinces of Hakkâri, Siirt, Van, Mardin, Bitlis, Sanlıurfa, Elaziğ and Diyarbakır.[13] The Inspectorate General were dissolved in 1952 during the Government of the Democrat Party.[14]

Between July 1987 and July 2000 Van Province was within the OHAL region, which was ruled by a Governor within a state of emergency.[15]

Modern history

According to the 2012 Metropolitan Municipalities Law (Law No. 6360), all Turkish provinces with a population more than 750 000, will have a metropolitan municipality and the districts within the metropolitan municipalities will be second level municipalities. The law also creates new districts within the provinces in addition to present districts.[16] These changes will be effective after the local elections in 2014.

Thus, in 2014, the city of Van became a Metropolitan Municipality.

Earthquakes

In Van province occurred several earthquakes. In 1881 an earthquake occurred and caused the death of 95 people.[17] In 1941, Van suffered a destructive 5.9 Mw earthquake. Two more earthquakes occurred in 2011 in which 644 people died and 2608 people were injured.[17] In a 7.2 Mw earthquake on 23 October 2011, more than 500 people were killed.[18] On 9 November 2011, a 5.6 Mw magnitude earthquake killed also several people and caused buildings to collapse.[17]

Districts

Van Province is divided into 14 districts.[19]

  • 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

Notes
  1. "Population of provinces by years - 2000-2018". Turkish Statistical Institute. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  2. Area codes page of Turkish Telecom website Archived 2011-08-22 at the Wayback Machine (in Turkish)
  3. "Li Agirî û Wanê qedexe hat ragihandin" (in Kurdish). Rûdaw. 25 November 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  4. Watts, Nicole F. (2010). Activists in Office: Kurdish Politics and Protest in Turkey (Studies in Modernity and National Identity). Seattle: University of Washington Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-295-99050-7.
  5. "Küresünnilerin Türkiye'de Yaşadıkları Yerler - Küresünniler Tarih ve Kültür Platformu". Küresünniler Tarih ve Kültür Platformu (in Turkish). 2014-04-12. Retrieved 2018-04-08.
  6. electricpulp.com. "KORA-SONNI – Encyclopaedia Iranica". www.iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2018-04-08.
  7. "T.C. Van Valiliği Resmi Web Sitesi". www.van.gov.tr. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  8. Hofmann, Tessa, ed. (2004). Verfolgung, Vertreibung und Vernichtung der Christen im Osmanischen Reich 1912-1922 [Persecution, Expulsion and Annihilation of the Christian Population in the Ottoman Empire 1912-1922]. Münster: LIT. ISBN 3-8258-7823-6.
  9. European History in a World Perspective - p. 68 by Shepard Bancroft Clough
  10. The Journal of Roman Studies – p. 124 by Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies
  11. Melissa Snell. "Alp Arslan: Article from the 1911 Encyclopedia". About Education.
  12. Jongerden, Joost (2007-01-01). The Settlement Issue in Turkey and the Kurds: An Analysis of Spatical Policies, Modernity and War. BRILL. p. 53. ISBN 978-90-04-15557-2.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  13. Bayir, Derya (2016-04-22). Minorities and Nationalism in Turkish Law. Routledge. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-317-09579-8.
  14. Fleet, Kate; Kunt, I. Metin; Kasaba, Reşat; Faroqhi, Suraiya (2008-04-17). The Cambridge History of Turkey. Cambridge University Press. p. 343. ISBN 978-0-521-62096-3.
  15. "Case of Dogan and others v. Turkey" (PDF). p. 21. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  16. Official gazette (in Turkish)
  17. Güney, D. "Van earthquakes (23 October 2011 and 9 November 2011) and performance of masonry and adobe structures" (PDF). Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  18. Staff, By the CNN Wire. "At least 5 dead in quake in eastern Turkey". CNN. Retrieved 2020-03-01.
  19. Şafak, Yeni (2019-11-14). "Van Seçim Sonuçları – 31 Mart 2019 Van Yerel Seçim sonuçları". Yeni Şafak (in Turkish). Retrieved 2019-11-14.

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