Turkey Says Goodbye to Former PM Ecevit

People | November 11, 2006, Saturday // 00:00

Hundreds of thousands gathered in Ankara to say their last goodbye to Turkey's ex-Prime Minister Bulent Ecevi, who passed away on Monday.

Ecevit, who occupied the premier's chair five times until 2002, was buried with national honors despite the fact that those are usually only granted to presidents.

The former PM was buried in the National Cemetery where only presidents and people who have contributed a lot to the country's development lay. To allow that the Turkish parliament passed a special change in the law on Wednesday.

During his 47-year political career, Ecevit helped workers gain the right to strike and bargain collectively, backed land reform for peasants, and in 1974 ordered Turkey's military to invade Cyprus - an action that led to the Mediterranean island's division.

More recently, Ecevit was praised for capturing Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan in Kenya in 1999 and for leading Muslim Turkey to become an official candidate for European Union membership.

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