Population: 16,200
Old name: Kırk Kilise
Çaldıran is a small town on the road south from Doğubayazıt to Muradiye and close to the Iranian border. It was terribly damaged by an earthquake in 1976.
In 2022 a joint team of Turkish and Mongolian archaeologists believed that they had uncovered traces of a mid-13th-century summer palace belonging to Hulagu, the son of Kublai Khan. Hulagu founded the İlkhanid dynasty of which no traces had hitherto been found in Turkey, making this an exciting discovery if confirmed. Traces of a caravnserai were also uncovered.
There are said to be the remains of several citadels dating back to the Urartians in the vicinity but I haven’t visited any of them.
The town is close to Tendürek Dağı (Mt Tendürek) where some people believe Noah’s Ark came to rest.
Çaldıran in Turkey should not be confused with Çhaldiran in Iran where Sultan Selim I defeated the Safavids in battle in 1514, resulting in the annexation of eastern Anatolia, much of it then western Armenia.
