last updated:

Friday, 26-Jan-2007 18:59:03 CET

    

History of the Turkish Van

The Turkish Van is an ancient breed from the Eastern Anatolia. Originally the Turkish Van originate from the region around the Van lake in what is now Eastern Turkey but can also be found in Armenia and Northern Iraq and Iran. All of which are places where the climate varies to the extreme.

Because of the many different cultures of people who have historically inhabited the eastern part of modern Turkey, identification of the breed with a given country in modern geographical settings results in confusion. The Armenians and Kurdish people,with deep roots in eastern Anatolia having lived in that area for thousands of years, consider the Van cat as part of their culture. It is comforting to note that despite political differences, all can appreciate the beauty of the Van cat.
 

That the Turkish Van is a very old breed is known because of discoveries of carvings dated around 1600 years BC showing a semi-longhaired white cat with coloured rings on the tail and the Turkish Van has later been used as the motive for seals, paintings, stone tables and ornaments. When the Romans conquered theStamp with the Turkish Van region in the year 75 BC they adopted a symbol with a cat on their war banner and also this cat was a fair plain coloured cat with coloured rings on the tail which is the characteristic of the cat we know as the Turkish Van. In 1955 the journalist Laura Lushington and the photographer Sonia Halliday travelled around Turkey working for the Turkish Board of Tourism. One day they noticed that the cats, especially in the area around the Van Lake, carried a resemblance to the traditional Angora type because of the length of the coat. But these cats had amber markings on the head and the tail had amber coloured rings. Their Turkish host offered them two kittens that were not related. A female from South Eastern Turkey and a male from Istanbul and they brought them back to England with them. That is how the first Van cats came to Western Europe all though they had been kept as pets in Turkey for centuries. Both kittens were put in quarantine in England and later the female gave birth to three kittens with almost identical markings on head and tail. Laura started a breeding program using the cats and in 1969 the cats was officially recognized by the GCCF as the Turkish Van in England.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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