Van Yüzüncü Yıl University

Shepherd İbrahim Koç recalls his youth with fondness as he grazes cattle on a barren field that was once lush with vegetation on the edge of Türkiye's largest lake.

An occasional shrub marks the spots from where Lake Van has retreated over years of global heating and drought.

"The animals are thirsty," the 65-year-old lamented.

Within the scope of the efforts to protect wildlife in the eastern province of Van's lake basins, gendarmerie units are keeping a close watch on endangered white-headed ducks by patrolling the region 24/7.

Lake Erçek, located near Lake Van, hosts thousands of birds every year. One of the rarest birds of the region, white-headed ducks, also live around this area.

An 800-meter-long road connecting the famous Çarpanak Island and a peninsula has come to the surface as the water ebbed in Turkey's largest Lake Van in the last two years.

"The Island of Çarpanak has turned into a peninsula," İhlas News Agency reported on May 26.

According to the agency, the island was the endpoint of a peninsula for centuries.

New microbialites different in structure and shape compared to previous discoveries have been found on the shore of Turkey's eastern Lake Van. 

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Drought caused by climate change and the decrease in precipitation have affected the basin of Lake Van, the water sources, agriculture and animal husbandry in the region, experts have warned.

"Heat rose, while precipitation decreased in the last decade," Faruk Alaeddinoğlu, a professor from Van Yüzüncü Yıl University, told state-run Anadolu Agency.

A team of archaeologists has unearthed a castle dating back to the Urartian era in eastern Turkey.

The remains of the castle dating back 2,800 years ago were discovered during an excavation project sponsored by Van Yüzüncü Yıl University on a mountain at an altitude of 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) in the Gürpinar district of eastern Van province.

Van cats, which are under protection at the Van Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYÜ) Cat Research Center in the eastern province of Van, gave birth to the first kittens of 2021. (AA Photo)

Towering Seljuk tombstones in eastern Turkey are getting prepared to be introduced to the world as part of a project.

The remains of a ship that sank many years ago in Lake Van in eastern Turkey emerged on Feb. 17 as its water level recedes due to global warming.

The increasing effects of global warming are causing water level changes in the lake during certain periods, and as a result, a number of historic artifacts dating back to the Seljuk and Ottoman empires are coming to light.

The challenging migration of pearl mullets, an endemic fish species found only in Turkey's eastern Lake Van, has started as their spawning period began.

The pearl mullet, the only fish species in Lake Van, migrates to freshwaters by swimming inversely to the flow in their spawning period between April 15 and July 15.