Başkale

Başkale

Başkale is a district of Van province. It is located in the southeast of the province.

Baskale was a settlement called Adamma during the Urartian period. Armenians called it Adamakert. Later a border region between the Romans and the Parthians, Başkale was captured by the Sassanids in the 3rd century AD and the Byzantines in the 6th century. After the Arab rule in 645, it remained under the rule of local Armenian beys. It was connected to the Sökmenids founded in the 1100s, the region was attacked by the Mongols in 1245 and after being under the rule of local beys for a short time, it came under the rule of the Karakoyunlu after Timur in 1386 and the Safavids in the early 16th century. Başkale region was definitively annexed to the Ottoman Empire during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent in the mid-16th century. Formerly known as Kotur-Elbak, at the end of the 19th century the region was within the borders of Elbak kaza of Hakkâri sanjak of Van province. The name of the accident was changed to Başkale during the Republican period.