Başkale

Başkale (Armenian: Ադամակերտ Adamakert; Kurdish: Elbak‎) is a town and district located in south-eastern Turkey in Van Province. There is one municipality in the Başkale district, the town centre, which was established 1937. The neighbourhoods of the town of Başkale are: Tepebaşı, Yeni mahalle, Camii-Kebir, Samandöken, Cevkan, Kale, Hafiziye, Tarım and Yakınyol.

Etymology

Urartians named the town Adamma (c. 900-300BC). The Armenians called it Adamakert (c. 100BC-18AD), meaning "Adam's city". Since the late 19th century AD Turks have called it Başkale (rendered in Anglicised form as Bashkala or Pashgala), meaning "head fortress", 'head' referring to its location at the head of a valley.

Geography

Başkale is situated 20 km (12 mi) west of the Turkey-Iran border. 138 km (86 mi) of the national border is on the east and north-east of the Başkale district. Başkale shares district borders with Yüksekova district of Hakkari Province to the south, Saray and Özalp districts of Van Province to the north, and Gürpınar district of Van Province to the west.