Editing Batman, Turkey (section)

== Kurdish–Turkish conflict ==
The oil-related development of Batman also resulted in relocation of Turkish people into a mostly Kurd-populated Batman Province. This has brought [[Kurdish rebellions in Turkey|ethnic conflicts]] that escalated in the 1990s. More than 180 civilians were killed in the Batman city area by unidentified gunmen between 1992 and 1993.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Jonathan Rugman|author2=Roger Hutchings|title=Ataturk's Children|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GTtz79KJwV8C&pg=PA55|year= 2001|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-8264-5490-4|pages=55–}}</ref> In June 2000, the then-Mayor Abdullah Akın attempted to rename up to 200 streets, and give them names of events of the Kurdish history or of people who supported the Kurdish culture. A Turkish court did not allow some names, but other names passed.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Watts|first=Nicole F.|title=Activists in Office: Kurdish Politics and Protest in Turkey|date=1 July 2011|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-80082-0|pages=154|language=en}}</ref> In 2010, the city was the location for the first Kurdish film festival in Turkey.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Koçer |first=Suncem |date=2014 |title=Kurdish cinema as a transnational discourse genre: Cinematic visibility, cultural resilience and political agency |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43303181 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=474, 484 |doi=10.1017/S0020743814000555 |jstor=43303181 |s2cid=145602322 |issn=0020-7438 }}</ref> In the opening ceremony a letter of the [[List of arrested mayors in Turkey|imprisoned mayor Nejdet Atalay]] was read out in the Kurdish language highlighting the struggles the Kurds have to go through in Turkey that does not recognize the Kurdish language.<ref name=":1" />