Van fortress, Van kalesi, Turkey. View of the ruins of Tushpa from the fortress. Tushpa was the first capital of the Urartian kingdom until the foundation of a new capital, Erebuni, (now Yerevan, Armenia) by Argishti I (780-756). The city was besieged by the Assyrian king Tiglath-Phalazar III (745-726) in 743.