We, that are 20 members of the HÜR-TÜRK-Verein Alanya (Free Turkish-German Friendship Association) and another 4 guests, had the common wish to travel to Van Lake.

Erzurum is the biggest city in Eastern Anatolia and is the capital of the province of the same name. With about 800.000 inhabitants, it is also one of the ten biggest cities in Turkey.

Bitlis is a city and at the same time the name of a province in the South-east of Turkey, bordering the province of Ağrı in the North, Muş in the West, Siirt in the South and Lake Van and the province of Van in the East.

In the north-east of Turkey you will find a province called Kars whose capital is a town of the same name. It is the administrative centre for about 90.000 inhabitants. Because it is only 45 kilometres to the Armenian border and about 65 kilometres to the border of Georgia,many soldiers are on duty in the town.

Malatya (in Hethitian Melid) is the capital of the province of the same name in Anatolia, a really mountainous area. In 2000, it was estimated to have a population of 381.081.

Van, located on the south eastern shores of Lake Van, the largest lake in Turkey, was known as Tuşpa and was the capital city of the ancient Urartian State (1000 B.C.). Van