Lake Van Monster

Scholar James Russell considers that this legend is an Armenian adoption of Urartian myths concerning the combat of the god Teisheba with the water monster Ullikummi.

Russell writes that into the modern period, the Armenians of the Van basin would refer to the sudden storms that arise on the lake as vishap kami (վիշապ քամի, dragon wind).

Following reports of the incident, the Ottoman government sent an official scientific survey group to the lake who failed to spot the creature.

He also recounts that Kurds he met in Van in 1994 and 1997 considered the lake monster story to be a "commercial ploy and a farce".

[4] Kozak's video is under constant criticism,[citation needed] with questions like why it never pans left, possibly because of a boat that may have carried the creature.