Van (; ; ) is a city in eastern
Turkey's
Van Province, located on the eastern shore of
Lake Van. The city has a long history as a major urban area. It has been a large city since the first millennium BC, initially as the capital of
Urartu in the 9th century BC and later as the center of the Armenian Kingdom of
Vaspurakan. It remained an important center of Armenian culture until the
Armenian Genocide of 1915. Today, Van has a
Kurdish majority and a sizable
Turkish minority.