ISPARTA, Turkey
Turkey's ninth president Suleyman Demirel was buried in his hometown of Isparta, in southwestern Turkey, on Saturday.
Demirel, also a former prime minister, died late Tuesday night of heart failure due to a respiratory tract infection, at the age of 91.
Demirel's funeral ceremony was held with state honors in Ankara on Friday. The ceremony took place at the parliament before funeral prayers at Kocatepe Mosque. Following funeral prayers, Demirel's body was taken to Isparta by plane.
Suleyman Demirel was buried in Islamkoy village of Isparta after a funeral service in Sehriban Hatun Mosque.
Turkey's Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, and other politicians and former government officials, as well as Demirel's family, relatives and a large number of people attended the funeral.
Suleyman Demirel was one of Turkey’s most prominent center-right political figures. He served as the country's prime minister seven times and was president from 1993 to 2000.
With just over a decade in office as premier, he was Turkey’s third-longest serving prime minister after Turkey’s first ever prime minister, Ismet Inonu, and Erdogan.
There are numerous high schools across the country, a university, and an airport in Isparta province named after Demirel.
