A SHORT VISIT IN VAN
Nursun Erel

The New Anatolian, Turkey
March 15 2006

If one day you have to go to Van for any reason, try to spare some
time, to get to know the different faces of this 5,000-year-old city.

Van is really one of the rarest places in the world, as it has been
a home for dozens of civilizations.

So, with my colleague Ceren Bayar, I spent some time in Van. Mostly we
were busy at the Van Courthouse. But we managed to take long walks on
our way to the courthouse from our hotel. The famous Cumhuriyet Bulvari
was our route, so it could give you meaningful impressions of Van.

Let me share them with you.

Some politics

Of the cities in eastern Anatolia, Van has perhaps felt the impact of
terrorism the hardest. We felt it too, on our second day in Van. A
bomb which exploded on Ferit Melen Caddesi killed three people and
injured over a dozen. It was a tragedy, and it also brought almost
all social and economic activity in the city to a halt. Because of
terror, the city loses many of its locals to immigration towards the
western cities. Terror had caused a great recession in the city.

That’s why there’s an enormous unemployment problem.

On Cumhuriyet Bulvari, you can see dozens of shoe shiners side by
side every day. They hopelessly wait for customers all day long.

Unique Van silverware

One controversy about the city is the number of jewelers. They have
very crowded showcases. You really wonder who the customers are for
such a variety of ambitious and expensive style of jewelry, but a
local told us:

“Don’t you know that Van is the home for many important tribes in
Anatolia? Don’t you remember the pictures taken during the tribal
wedding ceremonies? You almost see kilos of gold hanging on the
brides. So it’s a must for these people to give such gifts on any
occasion, that’s why we have so many jewelers here.”

Now let’s move on from these gaudy jewels to take a look at the
famous unique silverware of Van, which is called Savatli (a decorative
technique done with a special alloy). There are incredibly beautiful
bracelets, earrings and other kinds of ornaments done by this
technique. Metin Binici, who has a silverware shop in Van, told us:

“This is the art of our ancestors, developed centuries ago. During
the Ottoman period, in Istanbul if ordinary silverware was sold for
1 TL, the Savatli Silverware of Van was sold for 2 TL. It was very
precious and very desirable. For years art was almost asleep in Van,
but by the time Yucel Askin (Van Yuzuncu Yil University rector) came
to office, we started a revitalization of that beautiful art. These
bracelets and earrings look so bright at the start, but with the
passage of time they get darker and become more and more beautiful.”

Russian Bazaar

In the heart of the city, you can find almost every kind of market;
one example is the cheese market. Dozens of local cheeses produced
around Van can be found there. But once you’re in Van, you must
definitely try the special Otlu Peynir (a kind of cheese done with
a special kind of local herb). One another interesting place is the
Russian Bazaar. All kind of goods from fabric to wooden furniture can
be found there with very cheap prices. If you’re lucky, you can even
stumble upon a beautiful Iranian-made antique teapot, for example.

But don’t forget to bargain with the shopkeeper:

“You say 20 YTL for this teapot, but I can pay only 10 YTL, is
that okay?”

“Oh sister, since this morning I haven’t sold even a single item. You
heard the bomb explosion, didn’t you? You are so cruel to offer such
a low price, but okay I’ll give it to you.”

Visiting Akdamar Island

Van locals get angry when you call Lake Van a “lake,” they say:

“No. Don’t say it’s a lake. If you take the ferry from here to Tatvan
(a remote town on the Iranian border, beyond the lake’s far shore)
it takes four hours. So this is a sea. When the weather is rough,
it’s an ocean, it can be that wavy in bad weather.”

So we rent the boat of Recep Avci. The boat takes us from Gevas harbor,
and it takes us only 20 minutes to arrive at Akdamar Island.

Even though it’s a rainy day, Ceren and I feel almost in heaven looking
around us. What about those mountains covered with snow, just by the
lakeside? Ceren can’t keep herself from taking hundreds of pictures.

So we arrive at the island. The historical Armenian Church is in
front of us, and we read the historical marker:

“This church was built between 915 and 921 A.D., by the architect
Keshis Manauel. It was controlled by King Gagik I, who come from the
Armenian Vaspurakan dynasty.”

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is said to have ordered renovation
work on the church to be completed soon, but on the island we saw
only silence. Officials tell us the renovation has been temporarily
halted due to harsh winter conditions.

Personal barbecue table

So we returned from Gevas to Van in 50 minutes. We were both hungry,
so Ceren and I decided to try the Kebap House of our hotel (the
Tamara). It was surprising to see the personal barbecue tables. We
sat down and ordered our meal:

Meatballs, lamb chops and a half piece of sucuk (spicy Turkish salami).

Our waiter brought us the meat and with the fire tongs in his hand,
he lit the fire on our table. He said:

“We burn nut shells for fire. When you cover them with ashes, you
can keep the fire at least for three days, and besides you don’t get
any smoke.”

So we enjoyed our meat.

Our evening appointment is at Yucel Askin’s home. You know his views
about Van (published in Monday’s TNA), but their home is a different
world. His wife Oya Askin leads us through their home and shows us
their beautiful art collections. What admirable painting of Fikret
Mualla (famous Turkish oil painter) is this? What about those ancient
Canakkale ceramics?

And that corner is specially designed for Ataturk. One of his rare
shots is framed and the clock is stopped at the time (9:05 a.m.) he
died. We admire the fine art taste of the Askins. But there is only
one thing that breaks my heart, the empty shelves of the rector’s
confiscated antiquities collection.

Breakfast salon

Late that night we get back to our hotel and have a rest. The next
day we have to get up early and try a Van breakfast salon. These
breakfast spots are special to Van. They open very early in the
morning and serve until noon. Let me tell you what we had on our table:

Cream of buffalo milk served with local honey, fried sucuk, olives,
local cheeses and unique dishes as Kavut and Murtuva (made with
grilled wheat and egg). We also sip aromatic tea.

So this is the end of our visit to Van. It’s a shame we didn’t see
any of the famous Van cats.

Next time, maybe.