The Hoşap River or Güzelsu River ( tr, Engil Çayı) is a river in the
Van Province of
Turkey. Its catchment area approximately coincides with the
Gürpınar District.
Geography
From its source in the İspiriz Mountains near
Başkale on the southeast borders of Van Province, the river tends to the northwest. It is cut by the
Zernek Dam
Zernek Dam is a rock-fill embankment dam on the Hoşap River, located near the village Zernek, southeast of Van
A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van, it can be bigger or smaller ...
in the Gürpınar Plain and feeds into
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 ...
near
Dönemeç
Dönemeç (; ) is a village in the Edremit district of Van Province in Turkey. It is located on the right bank of the at a distance of 15 kilometers from the town of Edremit.
Name
The village was originally called Engil, from the Armenian name ...
. The part of the river flowing out of the dam is also called ''Dönemeç River''.
At the end of the river there is the Dönemeç Delta that extends into lake Van. The delta is used by birds during migration and is a breeding area of the endangered
White-headed duck
The white-headed duck (''Oxyura leucocephala'') is a small diving duck some long. The male has a white head with black crown, a blue bill, and reddish-grey plumage. The female has a dark bill and rather duller colouring. Its breeding habitat is ...
and
Caspian tern.
The
river regime of the Hoşap is nival. The lowest flow is 1.3 m³/sec in August, September and October. The highest flow is 12.6 m³/sec in May due to the rains and melting of snow. The total annual flow of the river is 334,106 m³/year.
History
Historically, the Hoşap River is known as the ''Khoshab'' or ''Anggh'' River in Armenian.
[Water Potential af Hoşap River Basin and Recommendations for the Evaluation of this Potential, in: Turkish Studies, Vol.14 Issue 3 2019, pp.1225-1252.]
The
Urartians who lived in the region made the best use of water resources. They constructed the
Shamiram Canal
The Shamiram canal, also known as the Semiramis canal and previously as the Menua canal, is a canal located to the east of Van, Turkey that runs 45 miles long, supplying a large region and flowing into Lake Van. King Menua of Urartu built the Semir ...
from the Hoşap river to irrigate arable land around the Lake Van
Closed basin in order to practice intensive agricultural activities. A Urartian cuneiform inscription of a temple in
Çavuştepe
Sardurihinilli, also known as Haykaberd ( hy, Հայկաբերդ, lit=Fortress of Hayk) or Çavuştepe Kalesi, is an ancient Urartian fortified site located on a ridge on the northeastern edge of the village of Çavuştepe in the Gürpınar dist ...
, a Urartian fortified site in the Hoşap valley, says:
This canal is one of the most remarkable Urartian mastery in water management.
[Veli Sevin, Aynur Özfirat, ''An Urartian Irrigation Canal in the Gürpınar Plain, Van, Eastern Turkey'', in: Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 59, 2022, pp. 5-17.]
References
Sources
* {{Cite book , last=Karapetyan , first=Samvel , title=Հայոց Ձոր , publisher=
Research on Armenian Architecture , year=2015 , isbn=9789939843216 , series= , location=Yerevan , language=hy , trans-title=Hayotsʻ Dzor , author-link=Samvel Karapetyan (author)
Landforms of Van Province
Rivers of Turkey