Yaşar Okuyan's will revealed: 'Hold the religious ceremony according to the Alevi faith'

12punto.com.tr

Yaşar Okuyan, who suffered an internal hemorrhage last week and was taken under treatment at Başkent University Hospital, has passed away.

The will of Okuyan, who served as the Minister of Labor and Social Security between 1999 and 2002, has been revealed.

'EVEN AFTER I DIE...'

In a statement he made in 2018, Okuyan had requested in his will that his funeral ceremony be conducted according to both his own faith and the Alevi faith:

"Let my funeral prayer be held at Kocatepe Mosque. Then take me to the Hacıbektaş district. Let a religious ceremony be held at the cemevi in Hacıbektaş according to the Alevi faith.

Then, bury my body in the grave plot I purchased from the cemetery in Hacıbektaş 7 years ago. Know that even after I die, Yaşar Okuyan wanted the unity and solidarity of Turkey. Do not fall for Alevi and Sunni hostility."

WHO IS YAŞAR OKUYAN?

Yaşar Okuyan was born on August 28, 1950, as the child of a family that had originally moved from Büyükköy in the Çayeli district of Rize to the village of Elmalık in Yalova.

He engaged in politics in nine different parties, including the MHP, ANAP, DYP, HYP, and CHP. He served as a Member of Parliament for Yalova between 1995 and 2002, and as the Minister of Labor and Social Security between 1999 and 2002.

A graduate of the Istanbul Private School of Journalism, Yaşar Okuyan worked for 21 years as a reporter, photojournalist, columnist, and intelligence manager at various newspapers, magazines, and agencies, and earned the right to hold a permanent press card.

For a period, he served as the chairman of the board of the İmbat Group of Companies.

Yaşar Okuyan was married and a father of three. During the period he was active in the MHP before 1980, his brother Arif Okuyan was a member of the TKP and the owner of the party organ, the magazine Ürün.