Erciş

Erciş
A view from Erciş city center
Erciş
Coordinates: 39°01′52″N 43°21′35″E / 39.03111°N 43.35972°E / 39.03111; 43.35972Coordinates: 39°01′52″N 43°21′35″E / 39.03111°N 43.35972°E / 39.03111; 43.35972
Country	Turkey
Province	Van
Government
• Mayor	Diba Keskin (BDP)
• Kaymakam	Barboros Baran
Area
• District	1,876.38 km2 (724.47 sq mi)
Population (2012)
• Urban	81,212
• District	165,953
• District density	88/km2 (230/sq mi)
Post code	65400
Website	www.ercis.bel.tr

Erciş (pronounced [eɾˈdʒiʃ]; Armenian: Ականց, Agants; historically Արճեշ, Arjesh, Kurdish: Erdîş‎) is a town and its surrounding district located in the Van Province, Turkey. The mayor is Diba Keskin (BDP). The majority of the city's population is Kurdish.

In Classical Antiquity, it was known as Arsissa, and as Arjish in Arabic and Western Armenian during the Middle Ages. The Byzantines knew it as Arzes (Ἂρζες or Ἀρζές) and the 10th-century emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos records in his De administrando imperio (Chapter XLIV) that it was under the rule of the Kaysite emirate of Manzikert.

This small district several times was the capital city of some ruling states. It was a main center of the province of Turuberan as part of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. The city changed hands on several occasions between the Arabs and the Byzantines, in the early Middle Ages. In 1054, while under Byzantine administration, it was captured and sacked by the Seljuk Turks after an eight-day siege. It was fortified in the early 14th century by the Ilkhanid vizier Ali Shah. Erciş was part of the Karakoyunlu state and later became a part of the Ottoman Empire. It was moved to a new location called Alada in 1841, due to floods. After the Armenian Genocide in 1915, the Russian forces captured the city as part of the Caucasus Campaign. They were replaced by Russian Armenian troops after December 1917. These were eventually driven out by the Ottomans on April 1, 1918.