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[[Category:Provinces of Turkey]] |
[[Category:Provinces of Turkey]] |
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[[Category:Kurdish inhabited regions]] |
[[Category:Kurdish inhabited regions]] |
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[[Category:Kurdistan]] |
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[[de:Van (Provinz)]] |
[[de:Van (Provinz)]] |
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[[es:Provincia de Van]] |
[[es:Provincia de Van]] |
Revision as of 08:55, 15 October 2006
Van is a province in eastern Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. It is 20,927 km2[citation needed] in area and has a population of 877,524 (2000)[citation needed]. Kurds form the majority.[1]
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 Turkish Van cats.
In the 9th century BC, the Van area was the center of the Urartian kingdom. For centuries after that, the area was a major Armenian population center. After WW1 Armenian population was forced to leave or "cleansed" — see: Armenian Genocide.