Veteran communist dies at 94

ISTANBUL

İleri ran for office in Istanbul representing the TKP in 2002 elections. He wrote more than 20 books.

One of the leading names of the Turkish communist movement, Rasih Nuri İleri, died at his home in Istanbul Dec. 6 morning at the age of 94. İleri’s funeral will be held Tuesday at Bebek Mosque after noon prayers and his body will be laid to rest in the Aşiyan Cemetery. İleri died at his home in the historic Doğan Apartment Building in the Galata neighborhood of the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul.
 
In 2011, at the funeral of another veteran Mihri Belli, it was reported that İleri told writer Vedat Türkali, “It is only the two of us left.”

Born in 1920 in Geneva, İleri started campaigning and struggling for the Turkish Communist Party (TKP) while he was in university in 1939. He enrolled in the party in 1942. He became a member of the central committee, but was later expelled in 1967. He founded the United Communist Party of Turkey in 1990.