Editing Batman River (section)

== Course ==
The river originates in Turkey's [[Anti-Taurus Mountains]] (at the Sason and Genç mountains)<ref name=b/> and flows approximately from north to south, passing near the city of [[Batman, Turkey|Batman]] and forming a natural border between the [[Batman Province]] and [[Diyarbakır Province]]. The historic [[Malabadi Bridge]] (built in 1146–1147) crosses the river near the town of [[Silvan, Turkey|Silvan]].<ref name=g2>[http://www.kultur.gov.tr/TR/belge/1-33024/cografya.html Batman. Coğrafya] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912182644/http://www.kultur.gov.tr/TR/belge/1-33024/cografya.html |date=2012-09-12 }}, kultur.gov.tr, 21 February 2007 (in Turkish)</ref>

The river is widest at about {{convert|100|m|ft}} right after exiting the dam, but then narrows to about {{convert|50|m|ft}} and forms numerous splits along its way to the Tigris. Its riverbed is irregular in many places, promoting flooding. A tributary of Batman, the Iluh River, originates in the Raman Mountain on the south of the Batman city and flows north-west through the city into the Batman River. Despite being a small river, absent on most maps, Iluh plays an important role for the province because its spring floods affect the provincial capital. The floods of Iluh and Batman rivers occur between March and May and sometimes in October or 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).<ref name=b>Balaban, Meltem Şenol [http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12610533/index.pdf Risk society and planning: the case of flood disaster management in turkish cities]. PhD Thesis. Graduate School of Natural and Applied sciences, Middle East Technical University 2009, pp. 147–149, 157</ref>