Batman, located in southeastern Türkiye, ranked second in Türkiye after Istanbul in library visits in 2025 with more than 2.3 million visitors. According to the 2025 library statistics released by Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), with a population of about 650,000, Batman surpassed many major metropolitan areas. When the number of library visits was measured against population size, Batman ranked first nationwide by a wide margin.
Istanbul ranked first with 6,577,638 library visitors, followed by Batman with 2,375,018, Kayseri with 2,192,825, Samsun with 1,471,418 and Van with 1,308,178, according to TurkStat.
'Time to read'
Batman Governor Ekrem Çanalp attributed the province’s high library usage to investments aimed at expanding access to libraries.
“Batman is the province with the highest number of visitors in Türkiye after Istanbul,” Çanalp said. “How did this happen? There is a model originating in the United States known as the Seattle model. What this model says is that there should be a large library in the center, while people outside the center should also have access to libraries.”
