Difference between revisions of "Eastern Anatolia"

Revision as of 23:42, 30 April 2010

Typical landscape of Eastern Anatolia in summer: rugged treeless terrain covered with green meadows, and the occassional snow-capped volcano positioning itself in the mix—Mt Ararat in this photo.

Eastern Anatolia (Turkish: Doğu Anadolu) is a region in Turkey. It occupies the mountainous east of the country and has the harshest winters.

Provinces

• Ağrı Province
• Ardahan Province
• Bingöl Province
• Bitlis Province
• Elazığ Province
• Erzincan Province
• Erzurum Province
• Hakkâri Province
• Iğdır Province
• Kars Province
• Malatya Province
• Muş Province
• Tunceli Province
• Van Province

Cities

• Darende
• Dogubeyazit — town on Iranian border, fascinating Ishak Pasa Palace is located nearby
• Erzincan
• Erzurum — biggest city of the region, near Palandöken Ski Centre
• Kars — city in northeast, with interesting Russian architecture
• Malatya — one of the large cities in western part of Eastern Anatolia
• Muş — town on the railroad to Tatvan/Lake Van
• Tatvan — on the western coast of Lake Van, eastern terminus of railway from Istanbul, with ferry connections to Van and then on to Iran.
• Van — city on the eastern coast of Lake Van, with some remnants from Urartu civilization and some Armenian monasteries, too.

Other destinations

• Ani — the old Armenian capital
• Nemrut Dagi Mountain — a UNESCO World Heritage site, with statues on its summit

Understand

Covering an area in which you can fit in four Switzerlands with still some more room, but with a population of just over 6 million, Eastern Anatolia is all about vast landscapes of mountainous terrain, with occasional flat-ish plateau inflitrated inbetween.

Talk

In the eastern and southeastern areas (near Iranian border and around Lake Van) of the region, the mother tongue of most locals is Kurdish. However most locals, especially younger ones, are also bilingual in Turkish, although heavily accented in most cases.

Local Turkish dialect spoken in northeastern section of the region (around Erzurum, Kars, Iğdır) is far from the standard Turkish based on Istanbul dialect and is virtually identical to Azerbaijani spoken in the neigbouring country.

Zaza may also be heard in certain locales, especially in the central parts of the region around Tunceli and Bingöl.

Get in

Erzurum is the main gateway to the region with fairly frequent air, bus, and rail connections with the rest of the country. Other secondary-major cities with airports include Malatya, and Van, both of which also has rail links with the rest of the country, and with Iran in the case of Van. Occasionally potholed (but getting better and wider day by day) highways connect the region to other Turkish regions in north, south, and west; and to Iran to east.

Get around

See

• Muradiye Waterfalls (Muradiye Şelalesi). A quite large waterfall, usually getting frozen in winter. It is north of Muradiye, which is about 80 km north of Van, off the highway to Doğubeyazıt.

Do

Eat

Meat is more or less what the whole local cuisine is dependent on in the region, as a very little number of vegetables can be grown in this highland with cool and short summers.

Drink

Stay safe

Get out