Bulent Ecevit, Turkey’s ex-prime minister recognizable for his blue shirt, cap, and white pigeon, passed away at the age of 81 in 5th November 2006. He was a Turkish politician and also a poet, writer and journalist.

Bulent Ecevit served as premier from 1999 to 2002, when his party suffered a crushing electoral defeat at the hands of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s newly formed Justice and Development Party. Ecevit won just 1 percent of the vote - the worst electoral defeat of his nearly 50-year political career - after voters held him responsible for a 2001 economic crisis that saw millions of layoffs.

He was a leftist nationalist and a staunch secularist but very well-respected by everyone in Turkey because of his honesty and courtesy - corruption-free image throughout his life - he often spurned luxury cars for cheap Turkish-made models. He was the leader who is not rich…

Today, 11-11-2006, was the funeral day… Farewell to Bulent Ecevit… Tens of thousands of mourners helped bury Turkey’s late Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit - a funeral that was disrupted when some in the crowd began booing the current premier to protest a feared rise of political Islam. “Turkey is secular and will remain secular” crowds chanted as his coffin reached Ankara’s main mosque.

Good Bye, White Pigeon… Goodbye, great leader… Goodbye, great son of Anatolia… We shall never forget you. Turkey is proud of you….

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