ALO 188: How Turkey's Municipal Funeral Hotline Works

Within the first hour after a death in Turkey, one phone number matters more than any other: ALO 188. It's the national municipal funeral hotline, operated by the Belediye Cenaze İşleri (Municipal Funeral Services Department), and it runs 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — including weekends and religious holidays.

Most families don't know this number exists until they need it. Here's exactly what it does, what it doesn't do, and how the full administrative chain works from the moment of death to the burial permit.

What ALO 188 Actually Coordinates

When you call ALO 188, the dispatcher triggers a sequence that handles the logistics most families are least prepared for:

• Body transport — A municipal funeral vehicle (cenaze aracı) is dispatched to collect the deceased from the hospital, home, or forensic facility and transport them to the nearest gasilhane (ritual washing facility)
• Gassal assignment — The system coordinates with municipal or mosque-attached ritual washers to perform the Islamic ablution
• Cemetery directorate notification — The call initiates contact with the Mezarlıklar Şefliği (Cemetery Directorate) to begin the grave allocation process
• Coordination with the mosque — For the cenaze namazı (funeral prayer) scheduling

Municipal funeral transport is free, while washing and shrouding are often subsidized or provided at no charge.

The Death Certificate: Your First Administrative Step

Before ALO 188 can move the body anywhere, someone needs to obtain the official Ölüm Belgesi (Death Certificate). The process depends on where the death occurred:

Natural death at home: Call emergency services (112) first. The ambulance team confirms the death, then you call ALO 188 to request a municipal doctor (belediye tabibi). The doctor examines the deceased and issues the Death Certificate.

Hospital death: The chief physician's office (Başhekimlik) issues the Death Certificate directly. Once you have the document, call ALO 188 to arrange transport.

Forensic case (adli vaka): Sudden, accidental, or suspicious deaths go through the Forensic Medicine Institution (Adli Tıp Kurumu). The public prosecutor and law enforcement intervene, and forensic pathologists issue the Death Certificate once their investigation is complete. This process can add days — families in this situation should prepare for extended waiting.

No funerary actions — no transfer to a morgue, no gasil washing, no burial — can proceed without this certificate.

Death Registration at the Population Directorate

Once the Death Certificate is issued, it gets logged into Turkey's national electronic government system (e-Devlet). This triggers an automated notification to the municipal cemetery directorate.

Separately, the death must be formally registered at the Nüfus Müdürlüğü (Population Directorate) — the civil registry office. This registration:

• Updates the deceased's civil status in the national database
• Supports subsequent administrative proceedings
• Generates the documents needed for cemetery plot purchase and burial authorization

A family member or authorized representative handles this registration. Bring the original Death Certificate, the deceased's nüfus cüzdanı (ID card) or kimlik kartı, and your own identification.

The Death Certificate (Ölüm Belgesi)

The official Death Certificate — historically referred to as the Gömme İzin Belgesi — is issued by the municipal doctor, the hospital's physicians or chief physician's office, or the forensic examiner. It confirms that:

• The death has been medically certified
• It can be logged into e-Devlet, triggering notification to the municipal cemetery directorate

In practice, the ALO 188 system and the e-Devlet notification chain handle most of this automatically for standard domestic deaths. The family's role is to secure the Death Certificate and present it at the right offices; the municipal machinery does the rest.

For home deaths, timing depends on when the municipal doctor can attend. Hospital deaths follow the institution's documentation process, while forensic cases can take days.

What ALO 188 Doesn't Handle

The hotline coordinates logistics, not personal guidance. ALO 188 dispatchers won't:

• Advise you on which cemetery group to choose (that's between you and the Mezarlıklar Şefliği)
• Explain the differences between Sunni, Caferi Shia, and Alevi funeral rites
• Help with interfaith family dynamics or etiquette questions
• Coordinate international repatriation (that goes through the consulate and international funeral directors)
• Manage memorial day planning or mevlid ceremony logistics

The dispatcher handles the institutional pipeline. Everything else — the ritual decisions, the family coordination, the cultural navigation — falls on the family.

Belediye Cenaze İşleri: What the Department Provides

Beyond ALO 188, the broader Belediye Cenaze İşleri department manages:

• Gasilhane facilities — Municipal washing rooms, often attached to mosques or cemeteries
• Shrouding supplies — The white cotton kefen (shroud) is typically provided at no additional cost
• Cemetery maintenance — Including the allocation, pricing, and upkeep of municipal cemetery plots
• Funeral vehicle fleet — The cenaze aracı vehicles that transport bodies between facilities

In Istanbul, the Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) runs an extensive network of gasilhane facilities. Ankara, Izmir, and other major cities operate similar systems.

The Practical Sequence: What to Do When

Here's the order that works, distilled from the municipal system's actual workflow:

1. Death occurs → Call 112 (if at home) or receive the Death Certificate from the hospital
2. Call ALO 188 → Request body transport and gasilhane assignment
3. Visit the Nüfus Müdürlüğü → Register the death and bring the certificate
4. Contact the Mezarlıklar Şefliği → Select and purchase a cemetery plot (or confirm a pre-purchased family plot)
5. Coordinate with the mosque → Schedule the cenaze namazı timing with the imam
6. Proceed to the gasilhane → The gasil (ritual washing) and kefenleme (shrouding)
7. Funeral prayer and burial → Same day if possible; next morning if the death occurred in the evening

For a straightforward domestic death, the sequence may be completed the same day or within roughly 24–36 hours. Forensic cases extend this by days.

The Muslim Funeral — Turkey guide includes bilingual call scripts for ALO 188, a step-by-step municipal coordination checklist, and worked examples of the full administrative sequence for all three death scenarios (home, hospital, forensic).