Erciş (; ku, Erdiş; hy, Ականց, Akants, historically , ''Arjesh'') is a town and district located in the

Van Province Van Province ( tr, Van ili, ku, Parezgêha Wanê, Armenian: Վանի մարզ) is a province in the Eastern Anatolian region of Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. It is 19,069 km2 in area and had a population of 1,035,418 a ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

Lake Van Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake ...

History of Artchesh

During

Classical Antiquity Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...

, the town was known as Arsissa, and Archesh (Arčeš) in Armenian and Arjish in Arabic. The Byzantines knew it as Arzes (Ἂρζες or Ἀρζές) and the 10th-century emperor

Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe K ...

wrote in his ''

De administrando imperio ''De Administrando Imperio'' ("On the Governance of the Empire") is the Latin title of a Greek-language work written by the 10th-century Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. The Greek title of the work is ("To yown son Romanos"). It is a domes ...

'' (Chapter XLIV) that it was under the rule of the Kaysite

emirate An emirate is a territory ruled by an emir, a title used by monarchs or high officeholders in the Muslim world. From a historical point of view, an emirate is a political-religious unit smaller than a caliphate. It can be considered equivalen ...

of Manzikert. This small district served as the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

city of a number of ruling states. It was the main center of the province of Turuberan as part of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. The city changed hands on several occasions between the Arabs and the Byzantines, in the early Middle Ages. From the mid 1020s onwards Archesh was governed by the Byzantines. In 1054, it was captured and sacked by the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

commanded by Tuğrul after an eight-day siege. It was fortified in the early 14th century by the

Ilkhanid The Ilkhanate, also spelled Il-khanate ( fa, ایل خانان, ''Ilxānān''), known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (, ''Qulug-un Ulus''), was a khanate established from the southwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. The Ilkhanid realm, ...

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...

Ali Shah. Archesh became part of the

Qara Qoyunlu The Qara Qoyunlu or Kara Koyunlu ( az, Qaraqoyunlular , fa, قره قویونلو), also known as the Black Sheep Turkomans, were a culturally Persianate, Muslim Turkoman "Kara Koyunlu, also spelled Qara Qoyunlu, Turkish Karakoyunlular, En ...

state and later became a part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

. From 18th century, because of the increase of level of

the old town (called Archesh) slowly disappeared. By the second half of the 19th century few traces of the buildings, churches and dwelling houses remained. After old Archesh/Erciş was flooded by water, the city was moved to north to a much higher place called Alada in 1841. There the new town was built called Akants (Նոր Արճեշ (, New Artchesh in Armenian and Erciş () in Turkish). While the new site inherited the old city's name and identity, as well as most of the population, some of the old site's residents moved out into the surrounding countryside instead and settled in villages such as Çelebibaği. In 1890 64% of the population of the district was Armenian. The Armenian population was wiped out during the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily through t ...

of 1915. That same year

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

n forces captured the city during the

Caucasus Campaign The Caucasus campaign comprised armed conflicts between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, later including Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus, the German Empire, the Central Caspian Dict ...

. They were replaced by makeshift Armenian forces after December 1917. These were eventually driven out by the Ottomans on April 1, 1918. In July 1930 in Erçis occurred the Zilan Massacre in which the Turkish army massacred thousands of Kurds. The city was shaken by a major earthquake on 23 October 2011.

Government

In the 2019 local elections of March 2019 Yildiz Çetin from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) was elected mayor. In October 2019 he was dismissed and accused of terror related charges. District Governor Nuri Mehmetbeyoğlu was appointed as a trustee for the Erçis municipality.

Population

The majority of the city's population is Kurdish. The total population of the district is 145,229 and spread among the capital city and villages. The rural population is 66,832, while the urban population is 78,397.

Population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

is 47/km². The population of the city of Erciş is 77,065 inhabitants.

Geography

The district has total of 2,115 km² area and is surrounded by Muradiye on the east,

Bitlis Bitlis ( hy, Բաղեշ '; ku, Bidlîs; ota, بتليس) is a city in southeastern Turkey and the capital of Bitlis Province. The city is located at an elevation of 1,545 metres, 15 km from Lake Van, in the steep-sided valley of the Bitlis R ...

on the west,

Ağrı Ağrı ( ku, Agirî; ) is the capital of Ağrı Province in eastern Turkey, near the border with Iran. Formerly known as Karaköse ( ku, Qerekose) from the early Turkish republican period until 1946, and before that as Karakilise ( ota, قره‌� ...

on the north and the

on the south. There are 143 settlement areas, including 3

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

, 14 districts, 2 subdistricts, 85

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

s and 39 other entities. To the north of Erciş is a large, steep highland area known as the Ala Dağ (literally "mottled mountain"), which contains the tributaries of the Zilan Dere. This is part of a general highland belt that separates the small plains north of Lake Van from the districts of Doğubayazıt and Diyadin further north. The Şüphan Dağ and Nemrut Dağ further west are also part of this highland belt, as is the Tendürek Dağ immediately to the east. The Ala Dağ's underlying rock is fairly soft and as a result the whole area is eroded into many sharp ridges. However, many of these ridges are covered in grass. There are villages in some of the valleys in the Ala Dağ, and there was historically a route cutting through some of these valleys to reach Diyadin further north. Historical records also refer to an "Ala Dağ" as the site of an

palace and a grazing area for

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

pastoralists, but this seems to be referring to a different place. It is one of the most developed cities in eastern Turkey and it is the place where the

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

s are still alive. Many kinds of

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

s and

vegetable Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the edible flower, flowers, ...

s are raised. Planting of poplar trees is widely seen in the city and surroundings.

References

External links