Water mills built by Armenians in the district of Gürpınar, Van Province in Turkey are on the brink of disappearing.

According to allturkey.am, for 3 years, the 40 watermills haven’t been put to intended use: some have been demolished, others turned into living houses.

As one of the villagers told allturkey.am, the water mills were built by Armenians who fled during the 1915 Genocide. “Turkish villagers appropriated the mills after Armenians left. Even the names of those watermills were Armenians ones. A couple of years ago, some of those were in working order; later they were closed down and became demolished,” he said.

Gurpinar is a district of Van Province and 20 km south of the provincial capital Van. The area's Armenian name was Hayots Dzor. In the Middle Ages, the area was the location of the Armenian kingdom of Vaspurakan, ruled by the Artsruni House of Armenian kings.