Many people in Turkey call eastern Anatolia sakli cennet, the" secret paradise". A place of dramatic landscapes, far from the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Istanbul, where history has always been deeply involved with perhaps the greatest density and diversity of cultural heritages in the world. The Hittites, Romans, Persians, Armenians, Georgians, Arabs, and Russians battled to control this territory, where is born the Seljuk Empire, the first Turkish state to rule Anatolia. Today North Eastern Anatolia, with the intersecting borders of Turkey, Armenia, and Georgia, is growing in importance. The city of Kars, the setting for Orhan Pamuk's prize-winning novel Kar (Snow), is a mix of Azeri, Turkmen, Kurdish, Turkish and Russian influences with the look of a Little Russia in Turkey. Now the city is also focused on the project of the Iron Silk Road, the BTK railways connecting Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, transporting Chinese goods west and petroleum products to Turkey and Europe. Not far from Kars, on the historical Silk Road, is a somehow magical ghost town. Ani, located on a dramatic and naturally defensive site on the current border between Turkey and Armenia, was once the capital of a medieval Armenian kingdom that covered much of present-day Armenia and eastern Turkey. Called the "City of 1001 Churches", at its height, Ani had a population of more than 100.000 people and was the rival of Constantinople and Cairo. South of Kars, the dusty frontier town of Dogubayazit has the mystical backdrop of Turkey's highest mountain, Mt Ararat, a snow-capped summit of 5137 meters. One of the most beautiful Ottoman palaces is not far, İshak Paşa Sarayı.
On the shores of the most prominent Turkish lake, Van Golu, the city of Van, is the most liberal urban centre in eastern Anatolia. Van has often been called "The Pearl of the East" because of the beauty of its surrounding mountain landscapes. An old Armenian proverb is "Van in this world, paradise in the next," slightly modified in Turkish as "Van for this world, faith for the next." On Van lake, the faith is on a small Akdamar island where the Holy Cross church is a masterpiece of Armenian architecture with relief carvings. Still on the lakeshores is Ahlat, famous for its Seljuk Turkish graveyard with stele-like headstones of vulcanic tuff with intricate patterns and Kufic lettering. A Striking sight with the backdrop of the Nemrut Dagi volcano.