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Southeastern Anatolia

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office advise against all travel to most places along the Syrian border in Southeast Turkey.

Southeastern Anatolia is a unique part of Turkey, with a predominantly Kurdish population that is extremely welcoming to visitors. Sadly, renewed hostilities from 2015 between the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) and Turkish government forces, along with possible effects of the Syrian conflict in territory near the border, have rendered large areas risky for travellers. While the dangers to travellers are statistically small, over 1000 people, including many civilians, died in violence between the PKK and government forces within nine months. Check your government's travel advice before considering travelling here.

The brightest spot in the gloomy picture is that Nemrut Dağı National Park, a highlight of Turkish travel with its haunting 2000-year-old statues, is not, at the time of research, among the areas considered risky.

Should the security situation improve, look forward to exploring historical cities like Mardin or Şanlıurfa, enjoying the beauty of shimmering Lake Van and savouring superb local food in places like Gaziantep.

Top attractions

These are our favorite local haunts, touristy spots, and hidden gems throughout Southeastern Anatolia.

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Göbeklitepe
Around 11km northeast of Urfa, 'Pot Belly Hill' was first excavated in 1994 by a team led by Professor Klaus Schmidt. Their discovery of a ritual complex dated to the pre-pottery Neolithic era (around 10,000 BC) has turned the previously accepted theory that religion followed the evolution of agriculture on its head. The small site, protected by a space-age-style dome, contains a complex of circular buildings containing megalithic T-shaped pillars now thought to be the world's first place of worship.
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Gaziantep Zeugma Mosaic Museum
This museum does a stellar job of displaying one of the world's most important mosaic collections, most of which was unearthed at the Roman site of Belkıs-Zeugma and brought to safety before the Birecik Dam flooded much of the site forever. Its most famous exhibit is the 'Gypsy Girl', which gets its own darkened room – dramatically highlighting the small mosaic's beauty. Equally impressive though are the huge floor mosaics, displayed between columns and wall-fresco segments, also brought from the site.
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Şanlıurfa Archaeology Museum
Şanlıurfa's spectacular archaeology museum is one of the best in Turkey. The region's cultural heritage is displayed across three levels covering a time period that stretches from the Neolithic up to the Ottoman era. The Neolithic halls, exhibiting sculptures and small finds from Göbeklitepe as well as other nearby pre-pottery Neolithic sites, are the highlight. Displays are accompanied by highly detailed information panels that do an excellent job of explaining this area's importance in the earliest years of human history.
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Nemrut Dağı Summit
Nemrut Dağı's famous statues sit on two terraces flanking Antiochus I's giant gravel-covered, mountaintop burial mound. Their 2m-high heads, toppled from their bodies by earthquakes, now sit silently on the ground in front of their colossal, throned bodies. The Eastern Terrace has the better-preserved thrones and bodies; the heads on the Western Terrace are in better condition. The statues represent Antiochus and four syncretistic Persian-Greek identities (reflecting Antiochus' own mixed ancestry), plus guardian lions and eagles.
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Bazaar
Dive into Urfa's bazaar alleys to find stalls selling everything from sheepskins and pigeons to jeans and handmade shoes. It was largely built by Süleyman the Magnificent in the mid-16th century. One of the most interesting areas is the bedesten with its shops selling silk goods, including colourful local scarves, under a vaulted ceiling. An entrance inside the bedesten brings you into the Gümrük Hanı, an old caravanserai with its courtyard now the city's most atmospheric cafe.
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Bazaar
Mardin's rambling commercial hub parallels 1 Caddesi one block down the hill. It's packed with metalworkers, donkey-saddle repairers, woodworkers, stores selling pots and pans, little teahouses and the odd souvenir shop. Donkeys still clop down the cobblestones, vying with motorbikes as the main form of transport within the alley muddle.
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Deyrul Zafaran
The magnificent Deyrul Zafaran stands about 6km along a good but narrow road in the rocky hills east of Mardin. The monastery was once the seat of the Syriac Orthodox patriarchate but this has now moved to Damascus. In 495 the first monastery was built on a site previously dedicated to the worship of the sun. Destroyed by the Persians in 607, it was rebuilt, only to be looted by Tamerlane six centuries later. Visits are by guided tour only.
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Arslantepe Höyüğü
The settlement mound of Arslantepe (also called Aslantepe) rises 30m over the surrounding green fields of the tiny village of Orduzu, 5km northeast of Malatya. This 200m-long mound may not look like much but it was here, in the 4th millennium BC, that one of the world's earliest state systems developed. The mound's main feature is an excavated 4th-millennium-BC palace-and-temple area of mud-brick walls with some surviving wall paintings. Afterwards, climb to the top of the mound for expansive views.
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Akdamar Kilisesi
Perched on Akdamar Island, 3km out on Lake Van, Akdamar Kilisesi is one of the marvels of Armenian architecture. Built in 921 by the Armenian King of Vaspurkan, Gagik Artzruni, and originally part of a complex that also included a palace and monastery, the church's facade is covered with biblical relief carvings in superb condition that are considered among the masterworks of Armenian art. Inside, the church walls hold faded frescoes.