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The Muş Plain and Its Two Rivers, the Murat and the Karasu

If you could look down on Muş from above, you would see a wide, flat, green layer surrounded by mountains.

Radar TürkiyeRadar Türkiye6 Kasım 2026
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The Muş Plain and Its Two Rivers, the Murat and the Karasu

If you could look down on Muş from above, you would see a wide, flat, green layer surrounded by mountains. This layer is the Muş Plain, spreading to the north and east of the city; two rivers cross it, and the province's farming, livestock, birds and pattern of settlement have largely formed around these waters. This article presents the Muş Plain not as a sightseeing stop but as a story of geography; it relies on official institutional pages and peer-reviewed studies, and where the sources give different figures it says so openly.

A basin between the mountains

According to the geography page of the Muş Governorship, Muş lies in the Eastern Anatolia Region and its surface area is 8,196 square kilometers. Mountains cover 34.9 percent of the province, plains covered with young and fertile alluvium 27.2 percent, and plateaus 37.9 percent. The altitude is generally above 1,250 meters. The page lists the Muş, Bulanık, Malazgirt and Liz plains as the most important of the plains. The city of Muş itself was founded on the north-facing slopes of Mount Kurtik, one of the Haçreş mountains, an extension of the Southeast Taurus, between the valleys of the Çar and Karni streams.

A study published in the journal Kent Akademisi places the Muş Plain in the Upper Murat-Van section of the Eastern Anatolia Region. According to the article, the plain is about eighty kilometers long and thirty kilometers wide, with an average altitude of around 1,280 meters. The Şerafettin and Otluk mountains lie to the north of the plain, the mountains south of Muş to the south, and the Bingöl Mountains to the west. Another study, on birds, writes that the floor of the basin is about sixteen kilometers wide and eighty-four kilometers long, and notes that the surrounding mountains range in height between 1,700 and 2,350 meters. The measurements of these two studies do not match exactly, because they vary according to where the boundary of the plain is drawn. What matters for the reader is that this is a wide, high-altitude basin plain enclosed on all sides by mountains. The same article says that the plain's climate is relatively favorable compared with the rugged, higher land around it, and that the suitability of its soils for farming helped settlements gather on the plain. According to the governorship page, the plateaus, by contrast, are gently undulating and covered with a thick layer of soil.

Two rivers, one plain

The governorship page writes that the Murat valley, which cuts the province's land from east to west, begins in the northwest of the province. At first the valley is a deep gorge running north to south, then it turns west and enters the Bulanık plain. On the Muş plain the floor of the valley widens, and at the exit of the plain the valley deepens again. According to the same page, the valley leaves the provincial borders south of Ulukaya Village. In other words, the Murat River here is not something that merely crosses a plain; it is an artery that shapes it.

The Kent Akademisi article states that the Karasu and the Murat River, which pass through the plain, offer an advantage over the rugged land around them for both irrigation and domestic water, and that this has influenced where settlements are located. On the soil map, the most common soil type on the plain is vertisol, covering 51 percent of it, while alluvial soils account for about 30 percent. Alluvial soils are found in the areas that develop along the Murat River and the Karasu. In the east of the plain there are also marshy areas and hydromorphic soils with drainage problems. Anyone who wants to look at a historic structure on the riverbank can see the Historic Murat Bridge as a trace of the plain's relationship with its river turned to stone; before a visit, the current condition of the structure should be confirmed with the provincial directorate of culture and tourism.

The map of farming and livestock

An article published in the International Journal of Management Academy writes that Muş is among Türkiye's important provinces in terms of agricultural production and that the Murat River and the Karasu are the province's important river resources. According to the figures in the article, of the province's total land of 866,833 hectares, the largest share, 357,342 hectares or 41.2 percent, is agricultural land. Pastures come second with 336,062 hectares and meadows third with 72,099 hectares. The same article reports that in 2020 the province had about 1.2 million small ruminants and 336,885 cattle and other large livestock. The governorship page also notes that the plateaus are well watered and grassy, so livestock is the most developed branch of agriculture in Muş.

The article counts the Malazgirt, Bulanık and Liz plains together with the Muş Plain among the province's important agricultural areas. According to the author, if irrigated farming is spread in these areas, the province's place in agricultural production will rise; improving irrigation, strengthening cooperatives and developing the market network are among the recommendations. The Kent Akademisi study writes that dry farming is practiced in part of the plain, mostly in the northwest, and that about 30 percent of the plain is given to dry farming. When passing through the plain, remember that the fields are a place of production and that roads and footpaths are often next to planted parcels.

The Iron Reeds and the birds

The Muş Plain has also been the subject of academic study for birdwatchers. A study based on two years of observation by researchers of Yüzüncü Yıl University reports that it recorded 148 bird species belonging to 19 orders and 49 families on the plain. Of these species, 123 are said to breed on the Muş Plain and around it. The article writes that the most important wetland of the plain is the İron Reeds and says that the plain contains two Important Bird Areas. One is the Muş Plain area where the great bustard and the little bustard breed, and the other is the İron Reeds area.

The great bustard is one of the species the study dwells on most. According to another study cited in the article, the great bustard arrives in the region at the beginning of March and stays until the end of November. As for the little bustard, about sixty individuals that winter in Azerbaijan are reported to come down to eastern Türkiye and the Muş Plain in autumn. A literature review cited in the article lists the Muş, Bulanık and Malazgirt plains among the breeding areas of the great and little bustards. An old trip report mentioned in the article draws attention to stork nests on electricity poles on the plain. Greylag geese and white-fronted geese are said to winter on the plain. So the plain has a bird calendar that changes through the season, not only in the summer months.

For anyone who wants to watch birds, general rules apply, and these are the basic principles of nature observation rather than personal experience. During the breeding season one does not approach the nest or the bird but watches from a distance with binoculars. Early morning and late afternoon are generally more suitable for observation. For the rules and permission status at entrances to wetlands and protected areas, the relevant institutions should be consulted.

The city as the plain's new edge

The Kent Akademisi article compares land use in 1984, 2004 and 2024. According to the study, agricultural land on the plain rose from 78,256 hectares in 1984 to 84,003 hectares in 2004 and fell by 3,501 hectares to 80,502 hectares in 2024. In the same years the settlement area rose from 1,517 hectares to 3,204 hectares and then to 3,645 hectares. Marshland rose from 1,897 hectares to 2,065 hectares and then to 3,238 hectares. The author says there is a direct relationship between the change in settlement and agricultural land.

The article writes that two district centers, eight towns and fifty-three villages were founded on the plain together with the city of Muş. It explains that the first nucleus of the city lay at the foot of Mount Kurtik and that it then expanded toward the plain. It notes that the spread of settlements toward farmland continues even though attempts have been made to limit it with certain regulations. The ring of mountains around the plain makes it harder for new settlements to be founded outside it. This is an important clue for reading the plain not merely as scenery but as a living and changing area.

How to read the plain

The best way to understand the plain is to look from a high point and separate the layers you see. In front are the river and the alluvial strip along its banks, in the middle the irrigated fields, at the edge the pastures and meadows, and behind them the line of mountains that surrounds the plain. Because the Kent Akademisi article writes that heavy winter snowfall causes road closures, it is wise to follow the weather forecast in advance when planning a winter journey. As you move across the plain, the best light for photographs is generally in the morning and late afternoon; this is not an observation but a general photographic principle.

Practical notes

All the figures in this article come from published articles and the governorship page; because measurements can vary from study to study, they should be read as approximate values. Since part of the plain is farmland, planted parcels should not be entered and one should watch from the roadside. For birdwatching, binoculars, clothing suited to the season in spring, and water are enough. If there is a specific structure or protected area you plan to visit, check its opening conditions on the official institutional pages.

The cover photograph shows the landscape of the Muş Plain.

Sources

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