ISTANBUL
Thousands gathered in Turkey’s largest city on Monday to bid a final farewell to renowned author Yasar Kemal who died on Saturday at the age of 92 after a one-month of struggle for life in an Istanbul hospital.
Prominent politicians, writers and artists were among the thousands from various parts of the country to bid farewell to Kemal in Tesvikiye Mosque at the heart of the city, where a funeral prayer was performed.
Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek, Former Turkish president Abdullah Gul, opposition party leaders Kemal Kilicdaroglu and Selahattin Demirtas and Istanbul mayor Kadir Topbas were some of those present.
His body was then taken to Zincirlikuyu Cemetery for burial.
Kemal's death came on the same day of a turning point in the Kurdish peace process, when jailed leader of the outlawed PKK movement called on supporters to lay down their arms following decades of conflict which claimed thousands of lives.
"He always said he would see the peace and I think he felt it," said Kemal's foster son, Ahmet Gunestekin.
Born in 1923 of Turkish and Kurdish descents in the southern province of Osmaniye, he was also known for his fight against oppression while defending minority rights.
The celebrated writer, who became Turkey's first Nobel candidate in 1973, won international fame with his novel, "Memed, My Hawk." This book brought him a Nobel nomination in literature and was translated into some 40 languages after being first published in 1955.
He first worked as letter-writer for illiterate citizens in small villages, then became a journalist and finally a novelist, always believing in "human beings and nature," defining his art as "being at the proletariat's service."
His novels mostly featured injustice and oppression of poor and disadvantaged people in the heart of Anatolia. Slim Memed, the peasant character in his best-known novel, fights a cruel landlord and takes his revenge after fleeing his village and becoming a bandit.
"I am against those who oppress and exploit the people; it does not matter whether oppression comes from feudalism or the bourgeoisie. Whoever is preventing the happiness of the public, I am against it with my art and with my whole life," Kemal said in a 1971 newspaper interview.
Many Turkish politicians and statesmen, from both government and opposition, had offered their condolences following Kemal's death.
