{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}} {{Infobox Turkey place | type = municipality | name = Adilcevaz | other_name = | image_skyline = | image_caption = | image_shield = | coordinates = {{coord|38|48|21|N|42|44|49|E|format=dms|display=inline,title}} | province = Bitlis | district = Adilcevaz | leader_party = AKP | leader_name = Abdullah Akbaba | area_footnotes = | area_total_km2 = | elevation_m = 1650 | population_footnotes = <ref name=tuik/> | population_total = 15059 | population_as_of = 2023 | postal_code = 13500 | area_code = | website = {{url|https://www.adilcevaz.bel.tr/}} }} '''Adilcevaz''' ({{IPA|tr|aːdildʒevaz}}; {{Langx|hy|Արծկէ|translit=Artskē}}, {{langx|ku|Elcewaz}}<ref>{{cite book |author1=Adem |first=Avcıkıran |url= |title=Kürtçe Anamnez Anamneza bi Kurmancî |date=2009 |page=55 |language=tr, ku |access-date=}}</ref>) is a town in [[Bitlis Province]] of [[Turkey]]. It is on the northern shore of [[Lake Van]]. It is the seat of [[Adilcevaz District]].<ref name=ilce>[https://www.e-icisleri.gov.tr/Anasayfa/MulkiIdariBolumleri.aspx İlçe Belediyesi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706215822/https://www.e-icisleri.gov.tr/Anasayfa/MulkiIdariBolumleri.aspx |date=6 July 2015 }}, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 30 January 2023.</ref><ref name=tuik>{{Cite web |title=Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2023, Favorite Reports|url=https://biruni.tuik.gov.tr/medas/?kn=95&locale=tr |access-date=10 May 2024|publisher=[[TÜİK]]|language=tr|format=XLS}}</ref>
The mayor is Abdullah Akbaba from the [[Justice and Development Party (Turkey)|AKP]], elected in the 31 May 2024 local elections.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bitlis Adilcevaz Seçim Sonuçları - 31 Mart 2019 Yerel Seçimleri|url=https://www.sabah.com.tr/secim/31-mart-2019-yerel-secim-sonuclari/bitlis/adilcevaz/ilcesi-yerel-secim-sonuclari|website=www.sabah.com.tr|access-date=2020-05-19}}</ref>
The famous Kef castle built by the [[Urartu|Urarteans]] lies near Adilcevaz.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bryce|first=Trevor|title=The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire|date=2009|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-39485-7|pages=6|language=en}}</ref> [[Monastery of the Miracles]] is 2.18 miles northwest of Adilcevaz in the hills to the north of Lake Van.
==History== The medieval town of Adilcevaz, under the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] and then the [[Seljuk Empire]], was located on and around the steep hill by the lake.<ref name="Sinclair 1987">{{cite book |last1=Sinclair |first1=T.A. |title=Eastern Turkey: An Architectural & Archaeological Survey, Volume I |date=1987 |publisher=Pindar Press |location=London |isbn=0-907132-32-4 |pages=275–6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EK1EBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA275 |access-date=20 May 2022}}</ref> Some fragments of the town walls from this period are still visible.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/> An inscription naming the 15th-century [[Qara Qoyunlu]] ruler [[Jahan Shah]] was made by the old city's west gate, but he is "unlikely to have contributed much to the walls" - they were probably built before the Seljuks and then renovated {{circa}} 1231-43 during Seljuk rule.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/> A small mosque from perhaps the 14th or 15th century is the only building that still stands in this area.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/> There was also a suburban area beyond the walls, mostly to the south - which is now underwater.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/> One inhabited area was apparently left isolated as rising water levels turned it into an island at some point.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/>
During the late middle ages, water levels rose again, and the suburban areas to the south were abandoned in favor of the flat land around the area where the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]]-era [[Ulu Cami]] was later built.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/> Probably by the late 16th century, when the Ottoman mosque was built, the southern island had also been submerged.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/> The old walled area was "no longer viable as a town center", although there were still some houses here.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/> Most likely, the nine-domed Ottoman mosque was built to reflect the town's shift rather than to encourage it; most of the suburbs had probably already relocated before its construction.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/> Another monument from about the same time is the now-mostly-ruined [[han (inn)|han]] in the nearby village of Kohoz (officially Yolçatı).<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/> The han is locally attributed to Zal Paşa (d. 1580), who was [[sanjak-bey]] of Adilcevaz at the time of [[Süleyman I]]'s [[Ottoman-Safavid War (1532-1555)#Second campaign (1548-1549)|campaign against the Safavids in 1548-9]], but there is no other archaeological or textual evidence to validate this.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/>
In recent centuries, Adilcevaz has shifted again, this time from the old Ottoman town center to its present-day location 1 km further east.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/> An earthquake in the late 1800s caused flooding that destroyed many houses by the lake shore, which probably contributed to this second shift.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/> An account in 1879 noted that the small older mosque was no longer being used as a place of worship; it was then used for grain storage.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/> It has since been heavily restored.<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/>
In 1979, T.A. Sinclair wrote that there were "only bad hotels in Adilcevaz".<ref name="Sinclair 1987"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.virtualani.org/adilcevaz/index.htm The Armenian "monastery of the Miracles" at Adilcevaz]
{{Adilcevaz District}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:District municipalities in Turkey]] [[Category:Populated places in Bitlis Province]] [[Category:Adilcevaz District]] [[Category:Kurdish settlements in Bitlis Province]]