Adilcevaz | town, district center

 town, district center

• Belediye / Municipality:
www.adilcevaz.bel.tr
• Kaymakamlık / District-Governorate:
www.adilcevaz.gov.tr

Adilcevaz (also known as Elcevaz) is a village and district capital of the same-named district within Bitlis Province of Turkey. City is on the shore of Lake Van. Ancient name of the city is "Artske or Artsike" which is in Armenian language. The village has a population of 13,973, and the district 31,335, mostly turkish people.

Because of several civilizations which have had a settlements in Adilcevaz, the city has many ruins and historical artifacts from different eras. Urartians, Persians, Assyrians, Macedonians, Arabs, Byzantines, Armenians are the different civilizations have lived in Adilcevaz in different periods of time. Today, contrary to the traditionally Armenian population that once lived in the east of Turkey, there are almost exclusively Turkish people now due to deportations and massacres in the 1900s. The famous Kef castle built by the Seljuk Turks lies 10km west of Adilcevaz on a mountain. Monastery of the Miracles also known as Monastery of Ardzgue (Armenian: Սքանչելագործ վանք) is 2.18 miles northwest of Adilcevaz in the hills to the north of Lake Van.