For weeks, the only thing on the international news agenda about Turkey has been the depreciation of the Turkish Lira. However, a novel online petition, started by Kemal Atakan Kırca three weeks ago, has shifted the public’s attention to Batman, a province in southeast Turkey.
Home to a population of 600,000 people, Batman is best known for its oil fields. Kırca is keen for the district to “change” and his first step is to make it synonymous with the globally known American superhero of the same name. His petition calls on the Governor of Batman to adopt the Caped Crusader’s logo to denote Batman’s place on the map of Turkey:
“Batman needs some change! We can start with the border. By changing the border, we can make it more realistic,” wrote Kırca on international campaign site Change.org. His petition, which includes a map with the Batman logo replacing the province’s usual borders (shown above), has already attracted 24,000 signatures.
Many added their reasons for supporting the online petition, among them Mustafa Odabaşı who said, “Batman should finally receive the respect and wings it deserves” [‘Batman artık hak ettiği saygınlığa ve kanatlarına kavuşsun’]. Richard Troughton from Britain posted, “It should already have been this way”.
Kevin Rojas from Argentina added his support because, “It sounds awesome. I love this idea. Go Batman”, while Kutlubay Sinoplu simply wrote: “nanananananananananananan”, a nod to the old theme tune for the TV series of Batman featuring Adam West.
Along with hundreds of signatures from people outside of Turkey, many thousands of Turks have also thrown their weight behind the campaign, viewing it as a brilliant way of driving more tourists to the little-known province.
Emircan Demirkan wrote: “What harm can the Batman logo do, it will be funny and nice, and will attract the interest of tourists, and contribute to the country’s economy”, adding a smiley face at the end of his sentence.
To add your support to the campaign, visit Petition To Change Batman Province Border.
