Russian tourists, who wanted to travel from Russia to Madrid, Spain via Istanbul, were surprised at what they saw when they got off the plane.
Tourists who came to Mardin instead of Madrid stayed here for one night and then transferred to the Spanish capital.
The foreign agency firm repeated the same mistake 10 days later and sent a tourist group of 3 people back to Mardin instead of Madrid.
The tourists who arrived in Mardin stated that they would come here again and made a connecting transfer to Madrid.
It has been revealed that the arrival nickname of the city of Madrid in Spain is 'MAD' and that Mardin is included in the international records as 'MQM'.
Bekir Falay, a tour operator in Mardin, told the Turkish TV that tourists were "surprised" when they arrived but they spent "a good day."
"We provided them with good hospitality and they enjoyed their stopover here," he said.
The resemblance of the names between the two cities is often a source of jokes for Mardin natives and expats who went on to found several amateur sports teams bearing the name "Real Mardin" after the more successful La Liga side.
