86-year-old Turkish man dedicates his life to forgotten Urartian language

Mehmet Kusman has spent six decades guarding an ancient fortress in eastern Türkiye and studying the language of the long-lost Urartu kingdom.

Urartu was a powerful ancient kingdom that flourished between the ninth and seventh centuries BC across parts of modern-day Türkiye, Iran and Armenia, leaving behind fortresses, cities and irrigation systems.

Kusman, 86, first encountered Urartian inscriptions in the 1960s while working as a laborer at the Cavustepe archeological site.

With little formal education, he began copying inscriptions found across the region and taught himself the ancient cuneiform script.

He said the first inscription he encountered left a lasting impression – "The inscription was very beautiful," he recalled. 

When the excavation leader discouraged him from learning the difficult script, Kusman became determined to prove himself.

He says it took him three years to learn the alphabet and another 22 years to master around 650 words.

Kusman now describes himself as one of the few people in Türkiye able to speak Urartian and has travelled internationally to give lectures about the ancient kingdom.

Historians, however, say his claims should be treated with caution. Researchers have only a limited understanding of Urartian, including how the language was pronounced, and believe it may have primarily been used in writing rather than everyday speech.

Despite retiring in 2005, Kusman continues to welcome visitors to Cavustepe and share his passion for the ancient civilization.

"I am a descendant of the Urartians, their grandson," Kusman says. "They disappeared, but look, they are not all dead."