Hoşap Castle ( tr, Hoşap kalesi, hy, Խոշաբ բերդ) is a large

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

castle located in the village of Güzelsu (previously Hoşap), Gürpınar District,

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 ...

Eastern Anatolia The Eastern Anatolia Region ('' tr, Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi'') is a geographical region of Turkey. The most populous province in the region is Van Province. Other populous provinces are Malatya, Erzurum and Elazığ. It is bordered by the Bl ...

and/or

Western Armenia Western Armenia (Western Armenian: Արեւմտեան Հայաստան, ''Arevmdian Hayasdan'') is a term to refer to the eastern parts of Turkey (formerly the Ottoman Empire) that are part of the historical homeland of the Armenians. Weste ...

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 in ...

. It is at a distance of approximately 50 km to the city center of Van. Most of the surviving structure was built in 1643 by Sarı Süleyman Bey, chief of the Kurdish Mahmudi tribe. Hoşap or Xoşabê means "beautiful water" in

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

. Fortress received its name from the river of the same name.Forteresse de Hoşap à Güzelsu The former town of Hoşap lay on the flat ground north of the castle rock and in the enclosed space on the opposite side of the castle from the road; the present village extends into this space. The town was defended at one corner by the castle and elsewhere by a wall, which originally started from the ends of the castle’s two cliffs. Built of mud, and toothed with the remains of mud battlements, the wall of the early Ottoman period can still be seen in stretches. On the north of the former town it now starts from a point beyond but the line of the cliff, near the Van road and extends along a natural ridge eastwards. From the castle’s southerly cliff the wall crosses the low saddle to the north-east. The two walls meet at the summit of the next hill, in order to keep control of all the land commanding the town. Beyond this hill’s summit stretches a seemingly empty expanse of low, spreading hills. Until the 1850s. Khoshab fortress city had about 1.500 families 1.000 of which were

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diasp ...

. Until 1847, semi-independent Kurdish

beys Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...

also lived there, but that same year, the Ottoman government, occupying the fortress, abolished their semi-independent rule.

Gallery

File:Hosap Castle 2.jpg, File:Hosap Castle 3.jpg, File:Hosap Castle 5.jpg, File:Hosap Castle 4.jpg, File:Hosap Castle 1.jpg, File:Hosap Castle 6.jpg, File:Hosap Castle 9.jpg,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hosap Castle Archaeological sites in Eastern Anatolia Castles in Van Province History of Van Province 1640s establishments in the Ottoman Empire Kurdish historical sites

Further reading

Gallery

References