Batman, Turkey
Encyclopedia
Batman is a city in the Southeastern Anatolia Region
of Turkey
and the capital of Batman Province
. It lies on a plateau, 540 meters above sea level, near the confluence of the Batman River
and the Tigris
. The Batı Raman oil field
, which is the largest oil field in Turkey, is located just outside the city. Batman has a local airport and a military airbase, which was used for transit of aircraft and helicopters in some search and rescue operations of the Gulf War
.
Until the 1950s, Batman was a village called Iluh with a population of about 3,000. However, oil fields have been discovered around it in the 1940s that resulted in a rapid development of the area and in the inflow of workforce from other parts of Turkey. In 1957, the village was renamed into Batman, after the river namesake, received a city status and became a district center. Over the next 50 years, Batman was rebuilt from one-storey to multi-storeyed buildings and its population grew 100-fold. A 511 km (318 mi) km long oil pipeline was brought in 1967 from Batman to the port city of Dörtyol
near the easternmost point of the Mediterranean
coast to transport the crude oil from the Batman refinery. In 1990, the city became the capital of Batman Province.
Apart from oil, which is by far the dominant commodity of the region, Batman produces beverages, processed food, chemicals, furniture, footwear, machinery and transport equipment. A university was established here in 2007 and became part of the Erasmus foreign student exchange program
.
(Paleolithic
) period, according to archeological evidence. First documented evidence of settlements in the province dates back to 7th century BC. An artificial "island" was created in this marshy area. It was named elekhan, and stood independent for 194 years from 546 BC till the invasion of Alexander the Great in 352 BC. The Batman Province was a religious center in the 4th–6th centuries AD. In the 11th–12th centuries it was ruled by the Great Seljuq Empire
and Artuqids and became a prominent outpost of the Silk Road
. This area was populated by Syriac Christians
and had a significant presence of Pontic Greeks
, Assyrians, Baghdadi Jews
and Armenians
; these peoples lived in the region from 500 BC to the late 19th century. Significant changes in its management and language were brought in 1515 by Mahmoud Pasha Elekhani. It is believed that a variant of his name, Elah, was transformed into Iluh and gave the old name to the Batman city.
The city was connected with the capital Istanbul
in 1944 by a railway line. This was the major transportation route until the 1950s when highways gradually became more important. Until the 1950s, Batman was a village of some 3,000 people; it was called Iluh and belonged to the Siirt Province
. It was first located in the Elmedin district of Siirt. The entire district disappeared in the spring of 1926 due to the flood of the Batman River. After that, Iluh was part of Beşiri sub-province. On 2 September 1957, the village became a district center and renamed into Batman after the river flowing nearby, which was known under its name since at least 19th century, On 16 May 1990 it was designated the capital of the Batman Province. This administrative evolution reflected the rapid growth of the city owing to its oil extraction and refinement industries. Oil was found in the region in the 1930s and the oldest in Turkey refinery was built in 1955 to process crude oil of the Raman and Garzan areas. The refinery is operated by Tüpraş
, it has a processing capacity of 1.1 million tonnes per year and storage capacity of 228 billion m3.
Development of the oil fields outside the city resulted in a rapid growth of Batman beginning in the 1950s. It was declared a "Priority Region for Development". A high school was established in the city in 1975 and most one-storey houses were rebuilt into multi-storey buildings. However, the large inflow of labor for the oil industry resulted in construction of hundreds of unauthorized small buildings on the outskirts of the city. Because of the wind direction, most industrial complexes were located in the southern and south-eastern areas. The oil-related development of Batman also resulted in relocation of Turkish people into a mostly Kurd-populated Batman Province. This has brought ethnic conflicts which escalated in the 1990s. More than 180 civilians were killed in the Batman city area by unidentified gunmen between 1992 and 1993.
, nearby (south-east of) Batman. The first experimental well started producing 10 tonnes (about 62 barrels (9.9 m³)) per day from 6 June 1940. The field was expanded for commercial production by 1945, but the production was delayed to 1947 by the lack of storage. A small refinery was built at the site with a capacity of 9 tonnes/day by 1947 and by November 1948 a bigger refinery capable of processing up to 200 tonnes/day was built in Batman. Even bigger refinery (330 tonnes/d) was built in Batman by 1955. Several other oil fields were discovered later around Batman, the largest being Batı Raman oil field
which produces about 7000 barrels (1,112.9 m³) daily. A 511 km (318 mi) km long oil pipeline was brought in 1967 from Batman to the port city of Dörtyol
near the easternmost point of the Mediterranean
coast to transport the Batman crude oil. The pipeline has an annual capacity of 3.5 million tonnes and was transporting about 20 Moilbbl (about 2.7 million tonnes) in the 1990s and about twice less between 2003 and 2007. Another, short (41 km) pipeline connected Batman with Şelmo – the location of the second largest oil field in Turkey. It was transferring between 1.5 and 0.5 Moilbbl per year in the period 1990–2007. Both pipelines are operated by BOTAŞ
.
Apart from oil, which is by far the dominant commodity of the region, Batman produces beverages, processed food, chemicals, furniture, footwear, machinery and transport equipment.
Batman has a semi-arid continental climate
. Winters are cold and humid, with much precipitation. Summers are hot and dry with temperatures above 35 °C (95 °F). On average, Batman has a lot of sunshine hours.
outside of Batman (at 37.929481°N 41.118021°E) which provides direct flights to Izmir, Ankara and Istanbul. The airport is combined with the military Batman Air Base. The base was renovated after the US-Turkey agreement in 1982 to make the base available for US tactical aircraft acting within NATO forces. This allowed them patrolling the region of Caucasus, Turkey and Iran without refueling. The base was then used for aid delivery and rescue missions in Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War
.
.
Football is the most popular sport. The city has a professional football club, Batman Petrolspor
, formed in 1960 and playing in the Turkish top Süper Lig. The club was named after the petroleum industry of the city. Another local football team, Batman B.S., participates in the Turkish Third League. There is a football stadium in Batman with a capacity of 4,900 spectators.
Another popular sport is wrestling. Freestyle wrestlers
from Batman have won national competitions, and Ali Riza Alan won gold in 1970 and silver in 1974 in world championships in the weight category under 52 kg.
The major sport venue of Batman, Atatürk Sports Hall, can accommodate 1,000 spectators and supports athletics, badminton, basketball, gymnastics, wrestling, folk dance, handball, martial arts (kurash
, judo
, aikido
, wushu
, karate
and taekwondo
), table tennis, volleyball and swimming.
Democratic Society Party
until the Constitutional Court of Turkey banned that party on 11 December 2009 for alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party
, banning him and 36 other members of that now-disbanded political party from joining any political party for five years. He is still mayor, but is no longer a member of any political party due to this court decision.
.
On 7 November 2008, former Batman Mayor Hüseyin Kalkan
began looking into the possibility of suing Christopher Nolan
, director of Batman Begins
and The Dark Knight
, and Warner Bros.
, distributor of the films, claiming the studios had been using "Batman
", the name of the superhero, without permission from the city, and "placing the blame for a number of unsolved murders and a high female suicide rate on the psychological impact that the films' success has had on the city's inhabitants." No lawsuit has actually been filed.
Local newspapers include Batman Çağdaş, Batman Doğuş, Batman Express, Batman Gazetesi, Batman Haber Portalı and Batman Postası.
Southeastern Anatolia Region
Southeastern Anatolia Region is one of Turkey's seven census-defined geographical regions . It is bordered by the Mediterranean Region to the west, the Eastern Anatolia Region to the north, Syria to the south, and Iraq to the southeast.-Provinces:...
of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
and the capital of Batman Province
Batman Province
Batman Province is a Turkish province southeast of Anatolia. The province's population exceeded 500,000 in 2010.The province is important because of its reserves and production of oil which was started in the 1940s. There is a 494-km long oil pipeline from Batman to the Turkish port of İskenderun....
. It lies on a plateau, 540 meters above sea level, near the confluence of the Batman River
Batman River
The Batman River is a major tributary of the Tigris, joining it near the source of Tigris called Dicle River in southeast Turkey. It originates in the Anti-Taurus Mountains and flows approximately from north to south, passing near the city of Batman and forming a natural border between the Batman...
and the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
. The Batı Raman oil field
Batı Raman oil field
The Batı Raman oil field is located in the Batman Province, in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey...
, which is the largest oil field in Turkey, is located just outside the city. Batman has a local airport and a military airbase, which was used for transit of aircraft and helicopters in some search and rescue operations of the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
.
Until the 1950s, Batman was a village called Iluh with a population of about 3,000. However, oil fields have been discovered around it in the 1940s that resulted in a rapid development of the area and in the inflow of workforce from other parts of Turkey. In 1957, the village was renamed into Batman, after the river namesake, received a city status and became a district center. Over the next 50 years, Batman was rebuilt from one-storey to multi-storeyed buildings and its population grew 100-fold. A 511 km (318 mi) km long oil pipeline was brought in 1967 from Batman to the port city of Dörtyol
Dörtyol
Dörtyol is a port city and oil terminus at the head of the Gulf of İskenderun, near the easternmost point of the Mediterranean coast. Dörtyol is located 26 km north of the city of Iskenderun in the province of Hatay in southeastern Turkey.-Geography:...
near the easternmost point of the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
coast to transport the crude oil from the Batman refinery. In 1990, the city became the capital of Batman Province.
Apart from oil, which is by far the dominant commodity of the region, Batman produces beverages, processed food, chemicals, furniture, footwear, machinery and transport equipment. A university was established here in 2007 and became part of the Erasmus foreign student exchange program
Erasmus Programme
The Erasmus Programme , a.k.a. Erasmus Project is a European Union student exchange programme established in 1987...
.
History
The Batman Province contains the strategic Tigris River with fertile lands by its sides, as well as rocky hills with numerous caves providing a natural shelter. Therefore it was inhabited from prehistoric times, likely from the NeolithicNeolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
(Paleolithic
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
) period, according to archeological evidence. First documented evidence of settlements in the province dates back to 7th century BC. An artificial "island" was created in this marshy area. It was named elekhan, and stood independent for 194 years from 546 BC till the invasion of Alexander the Great in 352 BC. The Batman Province was a religious center in the 4th–6th centuries AD. In the 11th–12th centuries it was ruled by the Great Seljuq Empire
Great Seljuq Empire
The Great Seljuq Empire was a medieval Persianate, Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim empire, originating from the Qynyq branch of Oghuz Turks. The Seljuq Empire controlled a vast area stretching from the Hindu Kush to eastern Anatolia and from Central Asia to the Persian Gulf...
and Artuqids and became a prominent outpost of the Silk Road
Silk Road
The Silk Road or Silk Route refers to a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa...
. This area was populated by Syriac Christians
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
and had a significant presence of Pontic Greeks
Pontic Greeks
The Pontians are an ethnic group traditionally living in the Pontus region, the shores of Turkey's Black Sea...
, Assyrians, Baghdadi Jews
Baghdadi Jews
Baghdadi Jews, also known as Iraqi Jews, are Jewish emigrants from Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq, who fled religious persecution and formed immigrant communities in their new homelands...
and Armenians
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
; these peoples lived in the region from 500 BC to the late 19th century. Significant changes in its management and language were brought in 1515 by Mahmoud Pasha Elekhani. It is believed that a variant of his name, Elah, was transformed into Iluh and gave the old name to the Batman city.
The city was connected with the capital Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
in 1944 by a railway line. This was the major transportation route until the 1950s when highways gradually became more important. Until the 1950s, Batman was a village of some 3,000 people; it was called Iluh and belonged to the Siirt Province
Siirt Province
Siirt Province is a province of Turkey, located in the southeast. The province borders Bitlis to the north, Batman to the west, Mardin to the southwest, Şırnak to the south, and Van to the east. It has an area of 5,406 km² and a total population of 300,695...
. It was first located in the Elmedin district of Siirt. The entire district disappeared in the spring of 1926 due to the flood of the Batman River. After that, Iluh was part of Beşiri sub-province. On 2 September 1957, the village became a district center and renamed into Batman after the river flowing nearby, which was known under its name since at least 19th century, On 16 May 1990 it was designated the capital of the Batman Province. This administrative evolution reflected the rapid growth of the city owing to its oil extraction and refinement industries. Oil was found in the region in the 1930s and the oldest in Turkey refinery was built in 1955 to process crude oil of the Raman and Garzan areas. The refinery is operated by Tüpraş
TÜPRAS
Tüpraş is Turkey’s largest petrochemical company, with 28.1 mn ton crude processing capacity a petrochemical facility, a retail affiliate and a Tanker Operation.-Introduction:...
, it has a processing capacity of 1.1 million tonnes per year and storage capacity of 228 billion m3.
Development of the oil fields outside the city resulted in a rapid growth of Batman beginning in the 1950s. It was declared a "Priority Region for Development". A high school was established in the city in 1975 and most one-storey houses were rebuilt into multi-storey buildings. However, the large inflow of labor for the oil industry resulted in construction of hundreds of unauthorized small buildings on the outskirts of the city. Because of the wind direction, most industrial complexes were located in the southern and south-eastern areas. The oil-related development of Batman also resulted in relocation of Turkish people into a mostly Kurd-populated Batman Province. This has brought ethnic conflicts which escalated in the 1990s. More than 180 civilians were killed in the Batman city area by unidentified gunmen between 1992 and 1993.
Industry
Search for oil in the Batman Province was started in 1935. On 20 April 1940, oil was found at a depth of 1048 meters at the Raman oil fieldRaman oil field
The Raman oil field is an oil field located in Batman, Batman Province, Southeastern Anatolia Region, Turkey. It was discovered in 1940 and developed by Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklığı. It began production in 1948 and produces oil. The total proven reserves of the Raman oil field are around...
, nearby (south-east of) Batman. The first experimental well started producing 10 tonnes (about 62 barrels (9.9 m³)) per day from 6 June 1940. The field was expanded for commercial production by 1945, but the production was delayed to 1947 by the lack of storage. A small refinery was built at the site with a capacity of 9 tonnes/day by 1947 and by November 1948 a bigger refinery capable of processing up to 200 tonnes/day was built in Batman. Even bigger refinery (330 tonnes/d) was built in Batman by 1955. Several other oil fields were discovered later around Batman, the largest being Batı Raman oil field
Batı Raman oil field
The Batı Raman oil field is located in the Batman Province, in the Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey...
which produces about 7000 barrels (1,112.9 m³) daily. A 511 km (318 mi) km long oil pipeline was brought in 1967 from Batman to the port city of Dörtyol
Dörtyol
Dörtyol is a port city and oil terminus at the head of the Gulf of İskenderun, near the easternmost point of the Mediterranean coast. Dörtyol is located 26 km north of the city of Iskenderun in the province of Hatay in southeastern Turkey.-Geography:...
near the easternmost point of the Mediterranean
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
coast to transport the Batman crude oil. The pipeline has an annual capacity of 3.5 million tonnes and was transporting about 20 Moilbbl (about 2.7 million tonnes) in the 1990s and about twice less between 2003 and 2007. Another, short (41 km) pipeline connected Batman with Şelmo – the location of the second largest oil field in Turkey. It was transferring between 1.5 and 0.5 Moilbbl per year in the period 1990–2007. Both pipelines are operated by BOTAŞ
BOTAS
BOTAŞ Petroleum Pipeline Corporation is the state-owned crude oil and natural gas pipelines and trading company in Turkey. The company was established in 1974 as a subsidiary of Türkiye Petrolleri Anonim Ortaklığı...
.
Apart from oil, which is by far the dominant commodity of the region, Batman produces beverages, processed food, chemicals, furniture, footwear, machinery and transport equipment.
Geography and climate
Batman is built on a flat plateau elevated at 540 m above the sea level, though there is a declining slope of up to 0.6° in the northeastern and southern areas. There are almost no forests in and around the city. The Iluh River, a tributary of the Batman River, flows through the city. The soil mostly consists of soft and porous clay; it is unstable and is easily eroded with rain and floods of the Batman and Iluh rivers. The floods occur between March and May and sometimes in October–November. Major floods occurred in 1969 (April, 60 buildings damaged), 1972 (April and May, 210 buildings damaged), 1991 (November, 500 buildings flooded), 1995 (March, nearly 1000 buildings submerged and 450 damaged) and 2006 (October, 11 people died and 20 injured).Batman has a semi-arid continental climate
Continental climate
Continental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...
. Winters are cold and humid, with much precipitation. Summers are hot and dry with temperatures above 35 °C (95 °F). On average, Batman has a lot of sunshine hours.
Demographics
According to the national census data collected between 1990 and 2000, the population of Batman was growing at a rate of 5% per year. By 2008, it has reached 298,342, with the male to female ratio of 1.015. According to the 2000 census, about 50% of population was married and had about 5 children per family. About 5 people were living together within one family. The unemployment rate was about 20% for males and 10% for females.Transportation
Batman is connected by highways and railway with the nearby cities of Diyarbakır and Kurtalan and with the capital Ankara. The distance (highway) to Istanbul is 1465 km, to Ankara – 1012 km and to Izmir – 1520 km. There is also a regional airportBatman Airport
-Airlines and destinations:- Traffic Statistics :Source: DHMI.gov.tr-External links:*...
outside of Batman (at 37.929481°N 41.118021°E) which provides direct flights to Izmir, Ankara and Istanbul. The airport is combined with the military Batman Air Base. The base was renovated after the US-Turkey agreement in 1982 to make the base available for US tactical aircraft acting within NATO forces. This allowed them patrolling the region of Caucasus, Turkey and Iran without refueling. The base was then used for aid delivery and rescue missions in Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
.
Education and sport
According to the census of 2000, 15% males and 43% females of Batman were categorized as illiterate. Within the literate part, about 33% males and 29% females have not finished secondary school, 3.3% males and 0.9% females had university education, and about 13% males and 3.8% females had completed a high-school or an equivalent program. There are 71 elementary and 12 high schools in Batman. The Batman University was founded on 27 May 2007. It employs about 140 staff members and has the faculties of Science and Letters, Technical Education and Engineering, which mostly cover engineering and business and administration topics. About 2,500 students from different parts of Turkey study here and the university is part of the Erasmus foreign student exchange programErasmus Programme
The Erasmus Programme , a.k.a. Erasmus Project is a European Union student exchange programme established in 1987...
.
Football is the most popular sport. The city has a professional football club, Batman Petrolspor
Batman Petrolspor
Batman Petrolspor is a professional Turkish football club located in the city of Batman. Formed in 1960, the club colours are red, white, and black and they play their home matches at Batman 16 Mayıs...
, formed in 1960 and playing in the Turkish top Süper Lig. The club was named after the petroleum industry of the city. Another local football team, Batman B.S., participates in the Turkish Third League. There is a football stadium in Batman with a capacity of 4,900 spectators.
Another popular sport is wrestling. Freestyle wrestlers
Freestyle wrestling
Freestyle wrestling is a style of amateur wrestling that is practised throughout the world. Along with Greco-Roman, it is one of the two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic games. It is, along with track and field, one of the oldest organized sports in history...
from Batman have won national competitions, and Ali Riza Alan won gold in 1970 and silver in 1974 in world championships in the weight category under 52 kg.
The major sport venue of Batman, Atatürk Sports Hall, can accommodate 1,000 spectators and supports athletics, badminton, basketball, gymnastics, wrestling, folk dance, handball, martial arts (kurash
Kurash
Kurash is a form of upright jacket wrestling native to Uzbeks, practiced since ancient times. It is an event in the Asian Games and there is an effort to include Kurash in the Olympic games.-Rules:...
, judo
Judo
is a modern martial art and combat sport created in Japan in 1882 by Jigoro Kano. Its most prominent feature is its competitive element, where the object is to either throw or takedown one's opponent to the ground, immobilize or otherwise subdue one's opponent with a grappling maneuver, or force an...
, aikido
Aikido
is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Aikido is often translated as "the Way of unifying life energy" or as "the Way of harmonious spirit." Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to...
, wushu
Wushu (sport)
The sport of wushu is both an exhibition and a full-contact sport derived from traditional Chinese martial arts. It was created in the People's Republic of China after 1949, in an attempt to nationalize the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts...
, karate
Karate
is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
and taekwondo
Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
), table tennis, volleyball and swimming.
Government
The current mayor of Batman is Nejdet Atalay. He was a member of the KurdishTurkish Kurdistan
Turkish Kurdistan is an unofficial name for the southeastern part of Turkey, which is inhabited predominantly by ethnic Kurds. The area covers between 190,000 to 230,000 km² , or nearly a third of Turkey...
Democratic Society Party
Democratic Society Party
The Democratic Society Party was a Kurdish Kurdish nationalist political party in Turkey. The party considered itself social democratic, and had observer status in the Socialist International. It was considered to be the successor of the Democratic People's Party...
until the Constitutional Court of Turkey banned that party on 11 December 2009 for alleged ties to the Kurdistan Workers' Party
Kurdistan Workers' Party
The Kurdistan Workers' Party , commonly known as PKK, also known as KGK and formerly known as KADEK or KONGRA-GEL , is a Kurdish organization which has since 1984 been fighting an armed struggle against the Turkish state for an autonomous Kurdistan and greater cultural and political rights...
, banning him and 36 other members of that now-disbanded political party from joining any political party for five years. He is still mayor, but is no longer a member of any political party due to this court decision.
In media
The Batman Air Base is mentioned in the 2003 science fiction action movie Terminator 3: Rise of the MachinesTerminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, commonly abbreviated as T3, is a 2003 science fiction action film directed by Jonathan Mostow and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes and Kristanna Loken...
.
On 7 November 2008, former Batman Mayor Hüseyin Kalkan
Hüseyin Kalkan
Hüseyin Kalkan was mayor of Batman in Southeast Anatolia, Turkey, and a member of the Democratic Society Party. He gained international notoriety November 2008 after he announced plans to sue Christopher Nolan, director of The Dark Knight film, over the allegedly unauthorized use of his city's...
began looking into the possibility of suing Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan
Christopher Jonathan James Nolan is a British-American film director, screenwriter and producer.He received serious notice after his second feature Memento , which he wrote and directed based on a story idea by his brother, Jonathan Nolan. Jonathan went to co-write later scripts with him,...
, director of Batman Begins
Batman Begins
Batman Begins is a 2005 American superhero action film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Christian Bale as Batman, along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson,...
and The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight (film)
The Dark Knight is a 2008 superhero film directed, produced and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins...
, and Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, distributor of the films, claiming the studios had been using "Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
", the name of the superhero, without permission from the city, and "placing the blame for a number of unsolved murders and a high female suicide rate on the psychological impact that the films' success has had on the city's inhabitants." No lawsuit has actually been filed.
Local newspapers include Batman Çağdaş, Batman Doğuş, Batman Express, Batman Gazetesi, Batman Haber Portalı and Batman Postası.
Famous personalities
- Ali Riza Alan – world champion (1970) in freestyle wrestling.
- İbrahim Bilgenİbrahim Bilgenİbrahim Bilgen was a Turkish politician, electrical engineer and activist. He was born in Batman, Turkey and killed by the Israeli armed forces in the Gaza flotilla raid.Bilgen's family migrated to Turkey from Mosul, Iraq...
– Turkish politician - Nalin PekgulNalin PekgulNalin Pekgul is a Swedish Social Democratic politician. She was born in Batman, in Turkey. Between 1994-2002, Pekgül was a member of the Swedish parliament. She was now chairwoman of Social Democratic Women in Sweden 2003-2011....
– Swedish politician - Mehmet ŞimşekMehmet SimsekMehmet Şimşek was born 1 January 1967, from a Turkish family of Kurdish descent in the city of Batman, Turkey.He is the Minister of Finance of Turkey in the cabinet of re-elected Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. He was elected to the Parliament for Gaziantep in the general election on July 22,...
– Minister of Finance of TurkeyMinistry of Finance (Turkey)The Ministry of Finance is a government ministry office of the Republic of Turkey, responsible for finance and tax affairs in Turkey. The current minister is Mehmet Simsek since 2009....