by Jim Payton
Chapter 19
Van turned out to be a bit of a revelation. For some unknown reason, Janet and Eti thought that they would find a town of old stone buildings with narrow alleyways instead of roads. Wrong. They found a modern bustling city of over half a million people. The majority ethnic group was Kurdish. The dominant landmark was Castle Rock. The streets were wide, cellphone towers were obvious and there were numerous construction sites. Some of the sites had occurred because of recent earthquakes that had caused widespread damage and death.
Janet and Eti took an expensive taxi into the city and again set themselves up in a hotel. They did the touristy things, visiting the Van Bazaar and some of the jewellery sites. Janet became quite entranced by the Van cats, with one blue eye, one green eye and thick white fur.
Finding themselves spending an excessive amount of money, Janet and Eti left the hotel and returned to camping, and their quest.
The present city of Van is located about five miles from the lakeshore, so they turned their back upon it, and concentrated on history. Google advised that Van had been the centre of the Armenian Kingdom of Ararat from 1000 BC, and was therefore an area rich with geological formations and artifacts. Eti relished the opportunities presented. His main area of interest covered the Western shore of the lake, but he wanted to check out the Tilkitepe Mound that contained information dating back to Van's oldest cultures. Archaeological surveys and excavations in the area had indicated human settlement had existed there since 5000 BC.
Eti's comment was, "I reckon that puts it a lot closer to Adam than a lot of other places."
They found the mound south of Van castle, the ruins of which are encompassed by Castle rock. While the site itself was remarkable, the surrounding area left Janet and Eti speechless. It showed only stone outlines of buildings that had once been the centre of a thriving community.
"Oh Eti," said Janet. "What happened?"
"The Turkish Government is what happened," replied Eti. "After the Russians left the area in 1915, during the First World War, the Turks killed all the Armenians left in Van, and reduced their city to rubble. It is generally known as the 'Armenian Genocide'."
"How awful,"
"Indeed. You struggle to find out much about it these days though," continued Eti. "Scholarly, it still exists, but modern day Turkey is happy to let the facts slip gradually from history."
"There's no real feel of sadness here though is there?"
"You're right," agreed Eti. "Many Armenians were Christians, so one can assume they are with the Lord now."
"Still, what a terrible thing to have happen," said Janet. "Sometimes it is so hard to see God's hand in something like that, don't you think?"
"You mean it is hard to reconcile Jesus to the Old Testament God of fire and brimstone and punishment and death?" asked Eti.
"I suppose that's what I am saying," agreed Janet.
"Still the one and the same," said Eti. "We are all going to be judged at some stage. While currently Churches push the 'love' side of Christianity, because that is what the masses want to believe, they forget the judgment side at their peril. Still, let's leave that for another day."
"What is it you wanted to see at this place?" asked Janet turning back toward the Tilkitepe Mound. "What is the connection between this mound and the Genocide thing?"
"Well, there is no great one thing that will help us with our current trip, and there is no direct connection between the mound and the Genocide apart from the fact that Armenians are involved. It is just that while we are here I'd like to actually see it so that I can relate the research I've read to an actual site.
"See over there, they uncovered several burial sites. The Christians were buried in East-West orientated graves, on their backs, with their heads looking west. Muslims lay on their right side with their heads facing south.
"The excavations have provided a window into the cultures that have inhabited the area. It really is rich in history, but I think it would be more important to us if we were looking at Noah and the time of the flood rather than pre-flood. As I've said, something for another time perhaps?"
"Perhaps?" asked Janet.
Eti smiled.
"Perhaps," he repeated. "Anyway, I've seen what I wanted to see, let's go."
"Lead on McDuff," instructed Janet.
They made their way to the ferry terminal and took the ferry across Lake Van to Tatvan on the Western shore, a city of about ninety thousand people. It took four hours to reach Tatvan, which turned out to be a rather sterile and blank city. It gave the impression of being a jumping off point for the Nemrut and Suphan volcanoes.
Nemrut dominated the view once you turned your back to the lake.
"Are we going to climb it?" asked Janet.
"Do you the world of good I reckon," replied Eti, and received a punch on his arm for it.
"It made Lake Van what it is today though," said Janet.
Eti nodded.
"Yeah! As we know, it blocked the outward flow of a number of streams causing them to form the lake. Prior to Nemrut the whole area was a basin which geologists call the Mus-Van river basin. Nemrut divided that basin into two. In the back of my mind is the possibility that it may also have disrupted the headwaters of the Tigris, Euphrates, Pishon and Gihon rivers."
"You mean that the area where they were formed from the one river may be under Lake Van? That under the water may be the original Garden of Eden?"
Eti lifted his hands in the universal gesture for 'who knows'.
"How far are we from where the helicopter people found that plant sample?" asked Janet.
"A-ways yet," said Eti. "That was a bit North and West of Nemrut."
"In this general area though," pointed out Janet.
"Yep," agreed Eti. "Maybe when Nemrut erupted, it hid Eden, and the eruption became the flaming or flashing sword that Genesis says keeps man out of the garden."
"Do you really think that is possible? You're not winding me up?"
"Of course I'm not winding you up. It's possible, but I can only say that. I certainly could not say that it is probable."
"Still it is something Eti, isn't it?"
Eti nodded.
"Let's find somewhere to camp shall we?" he asked. "It's getting on and will be dark before too long."
They found themselves a sheltered park and set up their camp. After eating, they planned their next day that consisted of visiting the lakes in the Nemrut crater, and obtaining a decent visual idea of what lay to the west and north of Nemrut.