True or false: there is a city in Turkey called Batman. Any guess?
The answer is “true,” and there is good news and bad news about that. The good news is that, in fact, there is a city in the world called Batman, even if it is in the depths of Turkey, a country that the Batman franchise did not penetrate until long after its creation in 1939. In fact, while the naming of Batman took place long after Batman’s birth, the identical nature of the two is purely coincidental.
The history of Batman’s name
Batman is a city (and province) today, but just 60 years ago, it was a town of only a few thousand people. And, perhaps more interesting than that, they both had a different name too – the town that became Batman’s city, you see, was called Iluh, while its province was called Siirt, until the late 1950s.
Now if you know anything about Batman (the character), you could be scratching your head. Given that this name change occurred nearly two decades after Batman’s introduction, couldn’t it be more than a coincidence that the Turkish city now bears his name? Unfortunately not.
The city and province of Batman took their current names not because of DC’s comic superheroes, but because of the Batman River that runs through it.
Things to do in Batman, Turkey
Not surprisingly, things to do in Batman, Turkey are limited, anyway, for most types of tourists visiting Turkey. In fact, while there are some Roman ruins on the outskirts of the city, it is well known that they pale in comparison to what you can find in other parts of the country.
In fact, and I’m not making this up, the most popular activity for tourists in Batman is finding one of the “Batman” signs on the side of the road that leads into town and posing for photos next to it.
Due to its location (relatively) close to the Iraqi border, Batman has a sizable population of Kurdish people and can be a good place to learn about Kurdish culture if you don’t mind crossing into Iraq proper. The people in Batman are extremely open to talking about Kurdish issues, which is unique in Turkey, where the political landscape makes candid discussions on this topic taboo, to say the least.
Like many other cities in the interior of Turkey, Batman is not a party place, it can be difficult or even impossible to find alcohol here. Interestingly, Batman is home to a restaurant with an important social mission, of which Bruce Wayne would be proud. Known as “Labor Women” in English, it is a great place for tea or breakfast, and donates its money to help vulnerable women, both in terms of meeting their immediate needs and passing legislation to protect their rights.
How to visit Batman Turkey
Despite my fondness for Turkish Airlines, this post is neither an advertisement nor an endorsement of them. I mention this disclaimer for what I am about to say below: the easiest way to travel to Batman is to take one of Turkish Airlines’ daily nonstop routes from Istanbul Atatürk Airport (or alternatively, low-cost Pegasus Airways from Sabiha Göçken Airport, located on the other side of the Bosphorus in the Asian part of Istanbul).
If you do not take available flights from other Turkish airways, such as Ankara and Izmir, your best option is to travel to Batman from cities located in and around the state of Anatolia, such as Diyarbakır or Kurtalan.
