Mehmet Kuşman, who has been working as a full-time guard at Çavuştepe Castle in Van for 43 years, has also been volunteering here for the past 19 years. Kuşman, who explains the Urartu alphabet and his work to tourists visiting the region, is one of the few people in the world who knows Urartian.

The Çavuştepe Castle, dating back to the Urartu period, was discovered as a result of excavations carried out between 1961 and 1986 by Prof. Dr. Arif Erzen from Istanbul University Faculty of Literature in the Gürpınar district of Van. Mehmet Kuşman (84), a father of 11 children who has been a guard at the castle for the past 62 years, including the last 19 years as a volunteer, said that he is one of the 12 people in the world who knows Urartian, but there is no one else to speak the language in this region after him.

The Çavuştepe Castle, which is located 10 kilometers away from the center of Gürpınar district and belongs to the Urartu period, was built by the 2nd Sarduri between 764-734 BC. The castle, named after its founder, is called ‘Sardurihinili’, meaning Sardur’s city. The historical castle was discovered as a result of excavations carried out between 1961 and 1986 by Prof. Dr. Arif Erzen from Istanbul University Faculty of Literature. Mehmet Kuşman, who served as a full-time guard at Çavuştepe Castle for 43 years before retiring in 2005, has been volunteering here for the past 19 years. Kuşman, who explains the Urartian alphabet and his work to tourists visiting the region, is one of the few people in the world who knows Urartian. Kuşman stated that he makes a living by selling tablets and necklaces with Urartian writing that he makes in his hut at Çavuştepe Castle after retiring.

“I LEARNED 650 URARTIAN WORDS IN 22 YEARS”

Kuşman stated that after writing the inscriptions in Van Castle in a notebook, he went to Iran and Syria and took notes on the inscriptions written in Urartian and worked on them one by one, saying, “Then I created the alphabet. After that, I learned the language and started to form words. In 22 years, I only learned 650 words. I educated my 11 children with my guard salary at that time. After retiring, I write in Urartian on stone slabs and sell them as decorative items. I have been volunteering here for 19 years. Currently, I am one of the 7 people in Turkey and one of the 12 people in the world who knows Urartian,” he said.

“URARTIAN LANGUAGE WILL DIE IN THESE LANDS”

Kuşman, who said that he will continue this work as long as his health allows, stated, “A excavation house is being built here. When that excavation house becomes operational, I don’t know if they will destroy the hut where I work or use it as a storage. If this place is destroyed, I won’t be able to continue this work. One of my children learned it, and he is working as the head of Social Security Insтιтution. He is too busy to deal with this. To do this job, you need to constantly read Urartian books. No one has come to me to learn Urartian until now. After me, the Urartian language will die in these lands,” he said.