Veteran Turkish actor Halit Akçatepe laid to rest

ISTANBUL

Veteran cinema and theater actor Halit Akçatepe, who died on March 31 at the age of 79, was laid to rest Istanbul on April. 2.

A ceremony was held for Akçatepe at the Caddebostan Culture Center, attended by his first and second wives, daughters and granddaughters, as well as many friends and fans. 

A short film on Akçatepe’s life was shown at the start of the ceremony. 

“For the first time, we are today on the same stage as my father. We never shared a stage before, but I followed his traces and became a theater actress. I carry the artistic flag of our family on my shoulder,” his daughter Ebru Akçatepe said at the ceremony, adding that before her father’s death they were planning to hold a special night in honor of him. 

“We decided to organize a Halit Akçatepe night at this theater. His loved ones and close friends would have come together for my father on this stage. The bad luck that hit my father’s characters in many of his films ended up finding him in real life too. The final scene of his life was sad, just like in many of his films. But he left behind a clean past. He was a good person, friend and father,” she said. 

Funeral in Karacaahmet Cemetery 

Veteran theater actor Genco Erkal also spoke at the ceremony, saying Akçatepe was a “lover of Turkey” who was present in all houses with his films. 

“He was very natural all the time. I always say that theater is the field of contest for an artist. People here know him as the character ‘Güdük Necmi,’ but he was also one of the cornerstones of our Dostlar Theater since its establishment. The real power of his acting was seen there,” Erkal said. 

Akçatepe was buried at the Karacaahmet Cemetery after afternoon prayers in the Üsküdar Şakirin Mosque.