Lake Urmia (Urmiye) Photo Gallery

Lake Urmia (farsi: دریاچه ارومیه Daryâcheh-ye Orumiyeh;Turkish: اورمو گولو , اورمیه گولو, is a salt lake in northwestern Iran, near Turkey. The lake is between the provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan, west of the southern portion of the similarly shaped Caspian Sea. It is the largest lake in the Middle East, and the third largest salt water lake on earth, with a surface area of approximately 5,200 km² (2,000 mile²), 140 km (87 miles) length, 55 km (34 miles) width, and 16 m (52 ft) depth.The lake is named after the provincial capital city of Urmia, originally a Sumerian name meaning city of Culture...It was called Lake Rezaiyeh (farsi: دریاچه رضائیه) in the early 1930s after Reza Shah Pahlavi, but the lake was renamed 'Urmia' in the late 1970s. 
Urmia City
Urmia or Orumieh (farsi: ارومیه; Turkish: اورمو / اورمیه – Urumiyə / Urmiye / Urmu), during the majority of the Pahlavi Dynasty [1925–1979] called farsi: رضائیه, Rezaiyeh), is a city in Northwestern Iran and the capital of West Azerbaijan Province. The city lies on an altitude of 1,330 m above sea level on the Shahar Chay river (City River). Urmia is the 10th most populated city in Iran with a population of about 600,000. Urmia is the 10th populated city in iran and 2nd of Azerbaijanian Turks provinces after Tabriz. Urmia is the trade center for a fertile agricultural region where fruit (Specially Apple and Grape) and Tobacco are grown.An important town by the 9th cent. Urmia was seized by the Oghuz Turks (11th cent.), sacked by the Seljuk Turks (1184), and later occupied a number of times by the Ottoman Turks.The population of Urmia is predominantly Azerbaijanian Turks (over 85-90%), but with Kurdish,Assyrian and Armenian minorities.