Madeline Hoffmann, a 33-year-old woman who set off on a bicycle ride from Germany to meet her Turkish father, met him in the central province of Kayseri following a 4.5-monthlong journey.
Growing up in Germany, Hoffmann got to know seven years ago that her father was a Turk. A fashion designer, who was living in Sydney, Australia at the time, she decided to take a trip in order to meet her father. Hoffmann, who resigned from her job in this process, returned to Germany and started the bicycle journey to come to Türkiye on Aug. 23, 2022.
Sharing this journey with her followers in detail through her social media account, she wrote about what she encountered on the way, describing her experiences and feelings in the process. Reaching Kayseri after a long journey, Hoffmann met with her 64-year-old father, Duran Tekin.
Hoffmann who shared that she was shocked when she learned that she was half Turkish at the age of 26 told Anadolu Agency (AA) that she decided to embark on a journey to "discover the other half of her origin and find herself."
Explaining how she returned to Frankfurt from Sydney, she pointed out that the idea of combining her old culture and German heritage with Turkish culture arose at the time. "I went out on this trip to meet my father for the first time," she said.
Hoffmann told that she arrived in Türkiye traveling from Germany, passing through France, Switzerland, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania and Greece on the way.
Expressing that she did not regret leaving her job for this trip, the woman noted that she was afraid from time to time, but that getting to know new cultures and seeing beautiful landscapes along the way made her happy.
"The feelings were mixed since I was going to meet my father for the first time. I've been waiting for this moment for 33 years. I've been traveling by bike for 4.5 months to experience this moment. It was a very strange moment when it came to the entrance of his apartment. I didn't know how to feel or what to expect. I knew he was coming down and I was afraid to look," Hoffmann explained.
"It's hard to try to describe how I felt. It was very interesting to get to know the second part of me. It's such a good feeling," she added.
Her father, Duran Tekin, stated that he went to Germany in 1973 and started his business life after art school. He explained that he has two daughters with a woman he met in Germany, but that they lost contact owing to personal reasons.
Tekin stated that after 28 years, he decided to reach the municipality of the place where they lived and contact the uncle of his daughters, thus accessing leads that led to them. Expressing that he met his eldest daughter in Germany 28 years later, Tekin said that he could not meet his younger daughter Madeline face-to-face because she lived in Australia. Sharing that it was difficult in terms of time and financially to visit Australia, and that they could not meet up in Germany before, Tekin said "I can't turn back time, that's how it was back then."