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.

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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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)

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.

Turkey's Lake Van basin, which is home to many different bird species, hosts whooper swans from Siberia and northern regions as the weather gets colder.

The basin, which hosts hundreds of bird species with its wide reeds and wetlands, is filled with flamingos in the summer and whooper swans in the winter.

A houbara bustard, which was spotted only twice in the last 100 years in Turkey, has been found wounded in Bitlis and taken under treatment at the Van Yüzüncü Yıl University Rehabilitation Center for the Protection of Wild Animals.

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.

Van cats, reputed worldwide for their extraordinary eye colors and soft, white coats, now listen to Mozart in their Cat Villa at Yüzüncü Yıl University in the eastern province of Van where they are under protection.

 The 4th Van Cat Beauty Contest was held by the Van Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYU) at the weekend as part of a shopping fest in the city. A Van cat named Spak was the winner of the contest. YYU Van Cat Research and Application Center Director Professor Abdullah Kaya said the event was held to promote Van cats and create awareness of this species of cats.