Sultanköy

Founded in 1987 in Çamlık Village, Sultanköy was established with the intention of protecting, developing, and the marketing of the art of carpet weaving as well as increasing the social strength of the local population through agricultural practices.

With the participation of locals from surrounding villages as well as local government, the organization has increased in strength and is now sitting on 164.000m2. These developments have contributed to the level of education, increased the level of social activity and more importantly provided locals with employment.

Foreign visitors to the center are greeted in their native tongue and are able to witness every step of carpet weaving from the dyeing of the yarns, obtaining silk from cocoons as well as the weaving process. If they wish to do so, visitors also have to possibility of purchasing these products which come with a door to door delivery advantage in a safe and secure environment.

Another important characteristic of our village is its history. Çamlık, or with the old name “Aziziye” was the maintenance station for locomotives which were on Turkeys first railway line that ran from Aydın to Izmir. An English engineer named Mr. Joseph Walker as well as other families who were working for the English-Ottoman Rail Company chose Çamlık as their place of residence and built a house in 1893, which can still be visited today.

When visitors come to Çamlık, they have the possibility of seeing the now restored maintenance station as well as seeing the many restored historic locomotives as well.

Alper Öner