Van:
Van is a city in eastern Turkey and the seat of Van Province, and is located on the eastern shore of Lake Van. The city's population in 2008 was 342,464.
Under the ancient name of Tushpa, Van was the capital of the Urartian kingdom in the 9th century BC. Its ancient inhabitants called themselves Nairi. The early settlement was centered on the steep-sided bluff now known as Van Castle (Van Kalesi), close to the edge of Lake Van and a few kilometers west of the modern city.
The modern city is located on the plain extending from the Lake Van, at a distance of 5 kilometers from the lake shore.
Van has often been called "The Pearl of the East" because of the beauty of its surrounding landscape. An old Armenian proverb in the same sense is "Van in this world, paradise in the next." This phrase has been slightly modified in Turkish as dünyada Van, ahirette iman or "Van for this world, faith for the next."
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