Guide
The tomb stands at the sixth kilometre of the old Erciş–Patnos road, near the village of Zortul, in the Çatakdibi quarter of Erciş. It belongs to the directorate general of foundations.
Research of recent years suggests it may be the tomb of Kara Yusuf, ruler of the Karakoyunlu, and it appears in the literature under that name as well. The building carries no inscription. It is accepted as a Karakoyunlu work of the fifteenth century because it stands at a commanding point of Erciş, because it carries the animal figures taken as a symbol of rule, and because it resembles the tomb of Kadem Paşa Hatun, which is securely dated to 1458.
The Zortul tomb has a twelve-sided body on a square base, covered by a twelve-sided pyramidal cap. The corners of the square base are chamfered to carry the body. As in many tombs of the same century in this region, the body is circular within and the covering a dome on the inside.
The regional directorate began work on a restoration project, but since the ground around the tomb is a graveyard and stones belonging to the building may lie buried nearby, the conservation board asked for a wide excavation first. Because the tomb stands unprotected in the middle of open country, some of its pieces are kept at the gendarmerie building.
