Mass farewell to Denktas

Bidding farewell to its founding president Rauf Denktas, who passed away Jan. 13 at the age of 88, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus lived a rather exceptional day on Jan. 17. Under a light drizzle, the entire Turkish Cypriot and mainland Turkish protocol, from the president to the speaker of Parliament, executives of opposition parties, an army of generals headed by the top general, the spiritual head of Turkish Jews, many diplomatic representatives and thousands of Turkish Cypriots attended first the official ceremony at the presidential office and later marched several kilometers to Selimiye Mosque for religious services. Everybody was there. Colonels from the Turkish Armed Forces marched in full military uniforms with swords along the two sides of the gun carriage carrying the flag-draped coffin of Denktas. As the funeral progressed through the streets of the Turkish quarter of Nicosia, the crowd and people on the balconies of their houses broke the silence and the extremely respectful procession with occasional thunders of applause. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul were present and praying in full respect. As the body of Denktas was lowered down into his grave by Serdar Denktas, his sole surviving son and leader of the Democrat Party (DP), other family members helped him place some personal items of the former leader in the grave. In the meantime an imam was reciting from the Quran. A huge crowd of all ages packed the Republic Park, where the founding president was buried and would soon be converted into a memorial. The park, which also houses a monument for the Turkish Resistance Organization (TMT), which was founded by Denktas (his name in the organization was Toros or Torous), will soon be converted into a mausoleum and a museum, Prime Minister Irsen Kucuk told the Daily News. He said the park was chosen as the burial site because of various reasons, including security.