Many families with Turkish roots in Bavaria choose burial in Turkey

Many families with Turkish roots in Bavaria arrange for relatives to be buried in Turkey, even after they have spent much of their lives in Germany, BR reports. Munich funeral director Salid Güler and his son Abdulkerim organise Muslim funerals and transfers to Turkey.

Muslims are to be buried within 24 hours of death, according to the report. The body must first undergo a ritual washing before it can be prepared for transport. Of about 500 funerals and transfers handled by the business each year, around 100 involve Turkish families. About 65 of those cases are transfers to Turkey, while the others are burials in Germany.

Güler says his own family has long faced questions about where home is. His father came from Turkey to Munich in 1969 to work in construction and had originally planned to return soon. He and his wife, now 88, live for six months of the year in Hilpoltstein in Middle Franconia and spend the other six months in Turkey. They want to be buried there, Güler says.

A recent transfer fulfilled the wishes of a 95-year-old woman, whose son, Hakan Cakar, said her parents and siblings are buried in the family grave in Turkey. She had spent two-thirds of her life in Germany.

About 318,000 people with Turkish roots live in Bavaria today. The recruitment agreement between West Germany and Turkey was signed in 1961. By the time the oil crisis and recession halted recruitment agreements in 1973, half a million people from Turkey had come to Germany, the report says.

Güler also wants to be buried in Turkey one day, but says Munich is home to him too. Seeing the sign for the Free State of Bavaria when he returns makes him feel he is back in the right country.