Batman Province

Batman Province (Turkish: Batman ili) 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. Cotton is the main agricultural product. A railway line connects Batman with the nearby provinces of Diyarbakır and Elazığ and with the capital Ankara. The Batman River flows though the area. Batman (Kurdish: Êlih, Arabic: باتمان Bātmān ‎) with 246,700 inhabitants, is the provincial capital. The province is also of interest from an archeological point of view. Sights include the Imam Abdullah Dervish monastery, Malabadi Bridge and the bridges of Camiü‘r Rızk and Hasankeyf.