HAKKARI TURKEY

Hakkari

Cilo Sat Mountains NationalPark

Cilo Sat Mountains National Park (Cilo Sat DağlarıMilli Parkı) is located at İki Yaka Mountains in Yüksekova district.At the summit of Cilo Sat Mountains National Park there are cirqueand glacial lakes where is convenient not only for hiking also for scientificclimbing. There are glaciers, glacial lakes and cert diversified wild animalson these mountains.

Eachbeing a natural wonder, these areas are suitable for winter sports andrecreational activities. Cilo Sat Mountains National Park providesmountaineers many opportunities with no need for using any auxiliary equipmentand tools and is an important ecological center and outdoor sports area.Mountain has many routes in different difficulty levels preferred by climbersaccording to their experience, as well as is rich in natural landscapes.

Reşko Summit (Reşko Zirvesi), the second highestsummit in Türkiye, (4168 m.) is located in Cilo GlacierMountains. Hakkâri mountains are formed within Alpine-HimalayasFolding System. This ensures, Hakkâri Mountains forming SoutheastTaurus range to have an uneven morphology.

Koçanis Church

Thechurch is in a valley in Konak (Koçanis) village 18 km awayfrom Hakkâri centrum. In past, the church was patriarchate for Assyrians,but had become inoperable when left 100 years ago while Assyrians weremigrating from Hakkari. There is a tablet in Assyrian language having eight linesplaced on west side towards the upper section near the roof of facade. Thereare two circular shadow clocks in church, one is below this tablet and theother is on the ground near center.

Meydan Madrassah

MeydanMadrassah (Meydan Medresesi) has a tablet at the entrance indicating that thebuilding had been constructed in 1700-1701. Madrassah has a rectangular planand classified in a group which having court and two floors. Meydan Madrassahis an important monumental building of Hakkari built in Ottomans period andprotected its authenticity until today.

Berçelan Plateau

BerçelanPlateau (Berçelan Yaylası) and surrounding provide mountaineering, skiing,hiking opportunities and has a beautiful flora. Berçelan Plateau is like theother plateaus where locale people migrating to feed their animals, to evaluatetheir products and to live in traditional black tents in summer. Plateau is 18km north of Hakkari centrum and suitable for mountaineering and skiing sports.Seyithan and Lis Glacial Lakes near the plateau are the other wonders.

Golan Plateau (Golan Yaylası), west of BerçelanPlateau is another location having a potential for ski tourism.

Nehri Stone Bridge

Nehri Stone Bridge (Nehri Taş Köprü) is an Ottoman periodmonument being on Şemdinli Creek, 13 km away from county town, andfour km away from Nehri (Bağlar) Village. The bridgeconnecting Derecik-main road to Iraq. The bridge is in a deep valley betweenhigh mountains and both its legs are settled on rock ground. It is 11 metershigh, 21 meters long and building date can be said at the beginning of 20thcentury.

Zab River

When itcomes to Hakkari, the very first river to remember is ZabRiver (Zab Nehri). Being the biggest river of the city, Zab River, bringsits water to Dicle River south of Mosul and crosses the cityroughly from north to south. 

Zab River hasideal conditions for water sports. There is 189 km track on Zab River forrafting. Zab River is one of the fastest rivers of Türkiye and provides variousrafting tracks convenient for both newbies and professionals looking for highadrenaline.

Bay Castle

Bay Castle (Bay Kalesi) is south of and eightkm away from the city, at 2025 meters altitude on a steep and rocky hill.Because of ceramic shards around, it is thought there have been settlementshere from Iron Age to the end of Middle Age.Climbing lovers may climb Bay Castle through both north and south.

Mergabütan Ski Center

As thereare many mountains and plateaus at high altitude where snow depth reaches up tofour meter in winter, you can enjoy skiing in Hakkari at leastsix months a year. Hakkari is one the cities opening ski season at the earliestand closing at the latest. Snow quality of Hakkari is very suitable for skiingand winter sports. Hakkari is a natural wonder, where you can ski in a freshand beautiful weather, have a mountain air. There are many tracks suitable forboth amateur and professional skiers.

Mergabütan Ski Center (Mergabütan KayakMerkezi), being 12 away from centrum and at 2700 meters altitude, provideservice until the end of April with a 1165 meter long 4 seats chair liftsystem, 680 meters long teleski, a 3 floors cafeteria, a 2 floors restaurantand a 4-star hotel having a capacity of 125 persons which is still underconstruction. Ski center is north of the city.

Rock Paintings

The rockpaintings near the summit Cilo Mountain at 4135 mt. altitudein Yüksekova district draw significant attention.

It isstill unknown who draw the rock paintings (kaya resimleri) consistingof animal, human and symbolic shapes those can be seen near the summit whiletouring Cilo Mountain and surrounding plateau and naturalbeauties.

Kayme Palace

Kayme Palace (Kayme Sarayı), north of old settlementsexisting in Şemdinli Bağlar Village borders has been built in1909 - 1911 according to the tablets. Building is restored in 2017 andimportant in terms of religion tourism as Seyyid Taha El Hakkari,one of the mystics of Ottomans period, provided Islamicknowledge and spiritual and ethic guidance here.

Stelas

Hakkari Stelas (Hakkari Stelleri) are located on northwestslope of Çölemerik Castle within today´s DağgölNeighborhood in centrum and includes 13 obelisks in total. Stelas,even not exactly, are dated at the middle of 2000s BCE. The most importantfeature of stelas is that their facade is filled with human, animal and combatweapon figures with engraving and lining technique. 11 of those stones includenaked and warrior male figures and two includes human figures. The builders ofstelas still remain a mystery.

Çukurca Stone Houses (Castle Houses)

ÇukurcaStone Houses (Çukurca Taş Evler) consist of 26 houses considered 400 years oldin Çukurca district and are important stone masonry icons ofthe district. Their authentic architecture and mighty silhouette add an extrabeauty to Çukurca.