Traces of Turkish history emerge in Van! 45 more new graves discovered

Excavation and restoration work, which began in 2022 with the permission of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, continues at the Seljuk Cemetery in the Gevaş district of Van. The site is one of the largest Turkish-Islamic cemeteries in Turkey and also houses the Halime Hatun Tomb, built in 1335.

A team of 25 experts is working on the excavations, which are being conducted under the leadership of the Van Museum and the scientific consultancy of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ercan Çalış, a faculty member of the Art History Department at Van Yüzüncü Yıl University (YYÜ).

In the 50-acre area, which contains nearly 750 tombstones reaching up to 2.5 meters in height and attracting attention with their inscriptions and traditional motifs, 100 damaged tombstones have been restored, and 45 graves—both with and without headstones (upright stones featuring inscriptions and decorations at the head and foot)—have been brought to light.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ercan Çalış stated that the work they started in 2022 at the historic Seljuk Cemetery, which is considered the second-largest Turkish-Islamic cemetery, is continuing this year.

Stating that both the tombstones are being restored and the inscriptions and decorations are being deciphered by academics in the area, Çalış noted the following:

"Our work has been included in the 'Heritage to the Future Project' of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism through the initiatives of Van Governor Ozan Balcı. So far, we have restored 100 tombstones. Blocking work has been carried out. Broken, tilted, and fallen stones have been restored.

Another important point is that we have unearthed 45 graves that were not previously recorded on the site maps. These were underground. History is literally gushing from the soil. The stones that have remained buried since the Seljuk period have been extracted by our expert teams. Their inscriptions and decorations have been deciphered by our academics."

Explaining that important findings were also obtained during the work, Çalış used the following expressions:

"In our work, we also found the grave of Halime Hatun's brother. This is an important finding. After deciphering the inscription on a headstone, we determined that the grave belongs to the son of the Saltukid Melik İzzettin Saltuk, that is, Halime Hatun's brother.

We are continuing our work with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and our Van Governor Ozan Balcı. We are gaining more information as the inscriptions are deciphered. The tombstones are important in documenting that Anatolia is a Muslim Turkish homeland. I would like to thank everyone who supported us, especially our Governor."