Funeral ceremony held for poet Ahmet Telli

Ahmet Telli, one of the important poets of Turkish literature, passed away at the age of 80 in the hospital where he had been receiving treatment for some time. Telli's family, relatives, politicians, prominent figures from the literary world, and numerous citizens attended the farewell ceremony held at the Chamber of Civil Engineers (İMO) in Ankara.

Throughout the ceremony, Ahmet Telli's poems were read. Speaking at the ceremony, Ahmet Telli's daughter, Eylül Telli, touched upon the values her father defended throughout his life and his commitment to literature, stating: "You all closely followed the treatment process of my father, Ahmet Telli, which lasted for approximately 7 months. During this period, the course of his illness worsened from time to time. However, my father never gave up his struggle; he always resisted. Unfortunately, he lost this resistance on July 10. In the short time he spent in intensive care, he became 'Brother Ahmet' to our doctors and nurses there. Our dear doctors gave us the bad news, saying, 'Unfortunately, we got to know Brother Ahmet closely in this way and loved him very much. Our quiet conversations were very pleasant, very naive. But unfortunately, neither he nor we could succeed.'"

"MY FATHER WAS NOT JUST A POET WHO PLACED WORDS SIDE BY SIDE"

Telli stated that her father was not just a name who wrote poetry, saying: "Today, we have gathered here not with the weight of a farewell, but around the light left behind by a lifetime. We are here to salute together a heart that dedicated its life to words, poetry, hope, and humanity, and a poet who illuminated much darkness with his pen. I am speaking not only as his daughter but as a witness to a person who never abandoned his principles throughout his life. My father was not just a poet who placed words side by side. He was a heart that met pain with hope, loneliness with solidarity, and darkness with a belief in the goodness within humanity. One might think that voice is now silent, but I know that a poet does not fall silent; he continues to live with the fire of his poems."

"WE WILL NOT BID HIM FAREWELL, BUT WE WILL SAY GOODBYE"

DEM Party Co-Chair Tülay Hatimoğulları, who recounted the story of how she met Telli, expressed the following:

"He wrote about loves, affections, and passions with his pen, and touched upon each social issue individually. Most importantly, he always instilled hope. Yes, we are a much later generation, but Brother Ahmet won the hearts of all generations, all revolutionary generations since 1978."