Even now the Turkish Van is pretty much unknown.
Would you like to learn more about this interesting breed and where it comes from?
Well, now you have the chance, here we go...
You will find the Turkish Van in the south-eastern part of Turkey, bordering Armenia, Iran and Irak. This area surrounds the Van lake (salt water!) and is overlooked by Mount Ararat (a volcano) aka Agri. Mount Ararat is over 15,300ft high and is over 5,100ft above sea level.
Turkish sources say that the Van cat travelled from the Mongolian Altai mountains over the bordering mountain ranges to the Iranian highland/Caucasus into the Van area.
So... if the Turkish Van cat travelled into the Van area, how come we call this breed "Turkish Van"?...you might ask, and here is the answer:
In 1955 two English Women, Mrs. L. Lushington and Mrs. S. Halliday, made a trip to Turkey to find the "roots" of the Angora cat. They found cats with fur soft like silk, long hair and a red (auburn) tail and red (auburn) markings on their head, unlike the Angora they were looking for. These cats seemed to have genetically established themselves through the geographic, climatic and natural selection in the rugged and rough conditions in the Van lake area.
The two English ladies exported four cats and brought them to England:
the females:
* Antalya Anatolia
* Van-Güzelli Iskenderun
the males:
* Van Attila Stambul
Byzantinum
* Van Celik Büdür
Those four cats are the ancestors of all Turkish Van, which are also known as the "swimming cats".
Throughout this section of my site you will see pictures of those imports and it is obvious how the original Turkish Van looked like and should look like: big, strong and muscular cats with wide heads and an absolutely fascinating facial expression.
In very few pedigrees of still living cats you can find direct ancestors of the "Lushington-cats".
In 1969 the Turkish Van was accepted as a breed by the English catclub GCCF and a standard was established.
In 1972 the Turkish Van was also accepted as a breed by the FIFe.
