Batman (short for Batı Raman Mountains[citation needed]) (Kurdish: Êlih) is the provincial capital of Batman Province, Turkey and lies on the Batman River in the predominantly Kurdish[1][2] southeast of Turkey.
Government
The mayor of Batman is Hüseyin Kalkan, who is a member of the Kurdish political party, Democratic Society Party.
Economy
Batman Province is an important oil producing area, and Batman has Turkey's oldest refinery, established in 1955. A 494 km (307 mi) long pipeline transports crude oil from Batman to İskenderun. The railway track at nearby Kurtalan connects the city with Istanbul. There is also a regional airport near Batman.
History and demographics
Until the 1950s, Batman was a small village. When oil companies moved in and the city's economy started to grow, population figures began to rise. Many Turkish workers and state officials settled in the city. Presently the population of Batman faces a high level of unemployment. The city has been pegged to undergo renovations to become a tourist attraction.
Recent clashes
According to the EU-Turkey Civic Commission Submission on Recent Violence, on March 30, 2006, a 3-year-old boy was shot and killed by Turkish Security forces during a police raid on a civilian house in Batman during a series of violent clashes in the Kurdish regions of Turkey.[3]
Threat of legal action
On November 7, 2008, 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 film's success has had on the city's inhabitants." No lawsuit has actually been filed.[4]
References
External links
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