Turkey Bids Final Farewell To Islamist Leader Erbakan
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — Funeral services are to be held today for Turkey’s first Islamist prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan.
Erbakan died of heart failure at the age of 85 in an Ankara hospital on February 27 and is to be buried today in Istanbul.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan postponed a visit to Brussels — his first in two years — to attend the funeral of Erbakan, who was his mentor.
Hundreds of people, including several cabinet ministers, attended prayers for Erbakan in Ankara today before his body was flown to Istanbul.
Thousands of people are expected to attend his funeral.
