 No other breed is allowed to be mixed into the breeding schedule, and all registered Turkish Vans can trace their ancestry back to imported cats of Laura Lushington.Called the Turkish cat when first given breed recognition in 1969, the name was changed in 1979 in the UK (1985 in the US) to Turkish Van to better distance the breed from the Turkish Angora cat (originally called Angora) which had its origins around Ankara, in central Turkey.The coat on a Turkish Van is considered semi-long-haired.