Funeral held in Turkey for dead soldier, Tatar meets crash survivors

The funeral of Turkish soldier Ugurcan Isik, who died near Morphou on Thursday when the military vehicle in which he was travelling overturned, took place in the Turkish city of Malatya on Friday.

Isik’s body was taken to his father’s house in Malatya, before being taken to the city’s Yesiltepe cemetery.

Funeral prayers were performed by Malatya’s province mufti Ramazan Dolu, while proceedings were also attended by Malatya’s province governor Seddar Yavuz and city mayor Sami Er.

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar met with the 11 Turkish soldiers who survived the accident at the emergency hospital in northern Nicosia’s Gocmenkoy neighbourhood.

The accident occurred on Thursday morning, when, according to the Turkish Cypriot police, the vehicle in which the 12 were travelling towards Morphou from the village of Argaki overtook a car driven by a 58-year-old woman, before colliding with it and detaching its wing mirror.

After the collision, the military vehicle’s driver reportedly lost control, and the vehicle veered of the road and overturned.

Messages of condolence had been issued by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz, Ersin Tatar, the north’s ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel, and other high-profile figures.