Dalaman

Dalaman is a district, as well as the central town of that district, situated on the southwestern coast of Turkey, in the Mugla Province. Dalaman is known for its international airport (Dalaman Airport) which serves as a gateway to the tourists who visit this part of Turkey every year, heading especially to seaside resorts to the west and east of Dalaman such as Marmaris, Fethiye, Koycegiz, Dalyan, Oludeniz and Hisaronu.

Apart from aviation activities, Dalaman plays host to one of Turkey's biggest open prisons where less dangerous prisoners are sent as part of their rehabilitation programme. Yet another vast farm establishment is a state farm. Agriculture, particularly citrus fruits, plays an important role in the local economy, since it is situated in a fertile plain at sea level.

Alexandria train station and the Sudanese in Dalaman

In 1906, Alexandria train station was built by mistake in Dalaman. The building still exists and serves today as the headquarters of the state farm. The year before the construction (in 1905) the then Khedive of Egypt Abbas Hilmi Pasha had acquired a large part of the fertile plain and had decided to set up a plantation in the region. He had ordered the plans and the material for his projected residence here to his architects in France, at the same as the plans and the material for a train station for Alexandria in Egypt. Unfortunately, the two simultaneous shipments were misdirected, the materials for his residence heading towards Egypt, and the Alexandria train station ending up in Dalaman. Since it was going to be too costly to re-ship everything to the right destination, the station was built in Dalaman anyway, with even a few miles of purposeless railway track.

The Khedive is also the perpetrator of the settlement in Dalaman of Afro-Turks of Sudanese origin, whose descendants are still easily distinguishable among the population.