Funeral ceremony held for former CHP leader Baykal

ANKARA

A funeral ceremony was held in Ankara on Feb. 14 for Deniz Baykal, the former Chairman of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), who passed away at the age of 85.

Following the first ceremony at the party headquarters, another one was held at the parliament with the participation of many political leaders including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Baykal passed away at his home in the capital Ankara on Feb. 11.

Born on July 20, 1938, Deniz Baykal was the fourth chairman of the CHP. He served as deputy prime minister between 1995-1996 and participated in many governments as a minister. Baykal was the leader of the CHP between 1992-2010 except for short breaks.

In 2017, Baykal, who was a lawmaker from Antalya province, was hospitalized over a blood clot in a major artery and has had health problems since then.

“It is with great sadness that I learned of the death of our Chairman, a lover of Türkiye and our Republican People’s Party, Antalya MP, our precious elder Deniz Baykal. He left us a life story full of struggles. Condolences to our nation,” CHP Chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said on Twitter.