Gevaş

Gevaş (Armenian: Ոստան, romanized: Vostan, lit. '[princely] court';^[2] Kurdish: Westan^[3]) is a municipality and district of Van Province, Turkey.^[4] Its area is 1,544 km²,^[5] and its population is 26,918 (2022).^[1] In the last elections of March 2019, Murat Sezer from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) was elected Mayor.^[6] As Kaymakam, Hamit Genç was appointed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoĝan in July 2019.^[7]

Gevaş Vostan • Ոստան
District and municipality
Gevaş tomb
Map showing Gevaş District in Van Province
Gevaş Location in Turkey
Coordinates: 38°17′52″N 43°06′20″E
Country	Turkey
Province	Van
Government
• Mayor	Murat Sezer (AKP)
Area	1,544 km2 (596 sq mi)
Population  (2022)[1]	26,918
• Density	17/km2 (45/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+3 (TRT)
Postal code	65700
Area code	0432
Website	www.gevas.bel.tr

The municipality is populated by Kurds.^[3]

History

Historically, Gevaş was for some time the main town of the Armenian kingdom of Vaspurakan and later between the 14th and 15th centuries the centre of a small Kurdish emirate. In their time the settlement had moved nearer to the lake.^[2] Later the town was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. Before World War I, the district had a Kurdish Muslim majority with a large Christian Armenian minority.

Main sights include surviving ruins of the castle, the monumental tomb known as Halime Hatun Kümbeti, built in 1358, very likely for the daughter of a local emir,^[2] a mosque built before 1446 (restoration in that year), the tomb of Sheikh Ibrahim, father of Halime Hatun^[2] as well as the ruins of an Armenian church in Ili, probably built after 941 and an Armenian Church/monastery on Kuş Island west of Aghtamar Island.^[2]

Composition

There are 42 neighbourhoods in Gevaş District:^[8]

• Abalı
• Akdamar
• Aladüz
• Altınsaç
• Anaköy
• Atalan
• Aydınocak
• Bağlama
• Bahçelievler
• Barışık
• Dağyöre
• Daldere
• Değirmitaş
• Dereağzı
• Dilmetaş
• Dokuzağaç
• Elmalı
• Göründü
• Gündoğan
• Güzelkonak
• Hasbey
• Hişet
• İkizler
• İnköy
• Karşıyaka
• Kayalar
• Kazanç
• Kızıltaş
• Koçak
• Kurultu
• Kuşluk
• Orta
• Pınarbaşı
• Selimiye
• Timar
• Töreli
• Uğurveren
• Uysal
• Yanıkçay
• Yemişlik
• Yoldöndü
• Yuva