Van (Turkish: Van ili) is a province in eastern Turkey, between Lake Van and the Iranian border. It is 19,069 km2 in area and has a population of 1,035,418 at the end of 2010. Kurds form the majority.
In the 9th century BC, the Van area was the center of the Urartian kingdom.[1] For centuries after that, the area was a major Armenian population center. After World War I Armenian population was forced to leave and was cleansed during the Armenian Genocide.