Veteran politician dies at 75

ISTANBUL

Cihan Photo

A funeral has been held in Istanbul for Turkey’s veteran lawmaker, Kamer Genç who died from cancer on Jan. 22.

The funeral was held at a cemevi, the place of worship for Alevis, in Istanbul’s Kartal district on Jan. 24 after Genç, a former deputy from main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) died from pancreatic cancer on Jan. 22. Genç will be buried in a village in his hometown, Tunceli, a province in Turkey’s east, after two other funeral ceremonies to be held in separate cemevis in Tunceli on Jan. 25. 

Among those who attended Genç’s funeral ceremony in Istanbul were relatives and friends of Genç, CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, CHP Secretary General Gürsel Tekin, CHP deputies Muharrem İnce, Mahmut Tanal, former parliament speaker Hüamettin Cindoruk and Rahşan Ecevit, the wife of former Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit. 

An outspoken lawmaker his whole political life, Genç lost his life at the age of 75 at a hospital in the Turkish capital where Genç had been receiving pancreatic cancer treatment for a while.

Born in 1940, Genç studied economics and administrative science in Ankara.

He became an independent candidate from Tunceli in 1983 but his candidacy was rejected by authorities. However, in 1987, he was accepted as a candidate.

Genç also served as deputy parliamentary speaker between 1983 and 2002.

In 2007, he became an independent deputy from Tunceli and returned to his former party of CHP in 2010.