Unless you are Turkish, Batman can mean only one thing — the DC Comics superhero with a cool utility belt who lives in Gotham City. But if you are, Batman can mean one of several things: a river, a province, a city or a unit of measurement. And none of them are related to, or inspired by the comic book character.

The city of Batman is situated in, and is also the capital of, the province of Batman in the Anatolia region of southeastern Turkey. The city lies in a plateau near the confluence of the Batman River and the River Tigris. Batman was originally a small village called Iluh with a population of about 3,000. The discovery of oil around Iluh in the 1940s resulted in rapid development of the area and its population began to explode over the next several decades. In 1957, the village adopted the name Batman, after the river that flows near it.

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