Veteran Turkish politician Rahşan Ecevit dies at 97
ISTANBUL
Rahşan Ecevit, veteran Turkish politician and writer died at the age of 97 at a hospital in the capital Ankara.
Ecevit died at the Gülhane Training and Research Hospital, where she had been receiving treatment since Dec. 26 last year.
She was the founder of Democratic Left Party (DSP) and also wife of late Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit.
Following the military coup in 1980, Ecevit couple was subjected to 'compulsory residence' in Hamzakoy Military Base in Gelibolu district of Çanakkale province and her husband was suspended from active politics for life.
Rahşan Ecevit founded DSP and led it until Bülent Ecevit's ban from politics was lifted in 1987.
However, she resigned from the party in 2009 and on Jan. 17, 2010, she was elected as the co-president of the Democratic Left People's Party, which she also founded.
She died at the intensive care unit of the hospital due to multiple organ failure at around 9.10 p.m. Turkish time.
Erdoğan, Akıncı, Kılıçdaroğlu extends sympathy on death Ecevit
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his condolences over the death of Rahşan Ecevit.
"On the occasion of the decease of our Founding President Rahşan Ecevit, President Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his condolences in a phone call," Onder Aksakal, the head of DSP, said on Twitter.
Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akıncı also expressed his condolences on Facebook and wrote: "I have learned the death of Rahşan Ecevit with sadness. I would like to extend my condolences to all those who love the deceased."
Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) chair, conveyed his condolences on Twitter.
"I am in the sadness of losing Rahşan Ecevit, the comrade of our [CHP] leader Bülent Ecevit, the important name of our political history," Kılıçdaroğlu wrote.
