Our story

I would like to briefly introduce myself and tell you the story of our company.

My name is Mehmet Cakir (Muhammed Shakir). I was born in a small village in Afyon, Turkey, the youngest of four siblings. My childhood was very happy, but when I was still very young my father went to Germany. That time was not easy for our family. When I was about 10, my father brought us over. In the meantime he had set up his own quarry business and worked very hard, and we children were there every day too. At 18 I married my wife and we had four wonderful children, who also grew up at the quarry. Like my father, I worked self-employed in the quarry – 25 years in total.

Throughout all these years my faith was always the most important part of my life. When I took part in a Hajj in 1993, my greatest wish came true. This journey inspired and fascinated me deeply. Even then I dreamed of making Hajj and Umrah trips my profession. Uniting my faith and my work would have enriched my life, but at the time this wish seemed impossible. So I made countless duas.

In 2005 a good acquaintance made me a very favourable Hajj offer as an organiser. This was the moment I first tried to organise a small group of about 40 people, mostly family members, relatives and my children. I was very excited and did not know exactly what to expect. Shortly before departure, the acquaintance who had made me the offer – and who led a group of about 140 participants himself – had an accident. He asked me to look after his entire group, as he was unable to travel as group leader. I reluctantly agreed and took on this responsibility. So, completely unplanned, we flew for the first time with about 180 people from different countries. It was pure chaos, even though I already had experience of travelling in south-eastern countries and spoke several languages.

After long reflection we tried again and have flown every year since. Due to lack of experience and the difficult conditions in the country, pilgrimages were not as easy back then as they are today. The challenges included long waits at airports, old buses that broke down several times on the way, cramped hotel rooms with many people, few bathrooms and toilets, and poor or barely any food. But each time Allah made this task easier for us, and over time conditions in the country improved dramatically. We had to endure a lot and gained valuable experience. Today you can fly direct to Saudi Arabia, travel in modern buses, stay in very clean rooms with your own bathroom and shower, and eat in the hotels’ own restaurants.

Over the years we founded the company Nurtur, which means something like “the path to inner enlightenment”. We receive a great deal of positive feedback and can count on the full support of my family, especially my wife, who accompanies me on almost every trip. She lovingly looks after the sisters in our group, supports them and is always available for questions.

My youngest son M. has also been actively supporting us since 2015 and has run his own business under CAKIR since 2019. From a young age he took part in many Umrah and Hajj trips and successfully completed several courses with Turkish Airlines. We are both members of Turkish Airlines, Saudi Airlines and IATA.

We thank Allah with all our hearts that every year we may fulfil the greatest wish of about 300 Hajj and 1,500 Umrah pilgrims and accompany them on this special journey. InshaAllah, we will always give our best to make this journey unforgettable for you.