Mehmet Yavuz Yılmaz, the eldest son of former Turkish Prime Minister Mesut Yılmaz, was laid to rest on Dec. 18 in a funeral ceremony attended by a number of top state officials, businesspeople, sports and prominent public figures.
Yılmaz was found shot in the head with a single bullet at his residence in the Beykoz district of Istanbul on Dec. 16 and police were initially evaluating the possibility of suicide.
Funeral prayers at Marmara University’s Tatbikat Mosque saw the participation of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, his wife Emine Erdoğan, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli and İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener.
The former Turkish prime minister, accompanied by his wife Berna Yılmaz and their son Hasan Yılmaz, accepted condolences in the yard of the mosque ahead of the funeral prayers. Following the prayers, Erdoğan also gave a shoulder to carry Yılmaz’s coffin to the vehicle.
Akşener told reporters at the mosque that she had “so much respect for Berna Yılmaz” and called her son’s death a “very painful” one.
Doğan Holding Founder and Honorary Chairman Aydın Doğan, Doğan TV Holding Chairwoman Arzuhan Doğan Yalçın and Mehmet Ali Yalçındağ also attended Yılmaz’s funeral.
“May God not let anyone face such thing,” Aydın Doğan said, extending his condolences to the Yılmaz family.
Yılmaz, who was 38 years old when he died, was later laid to rest in the Kanlıca Cemetery.
Hürriyet columnist Taha Akyol stated that Mesut Yılmaz had told him about a serious illness that his son was suffering from a couple of years ago.
During his condolence visit on Dec. 17, Akyol quoted Yılmaz as saying that his son had been receiving treatment for the past seven years but there was no a cure. The former prime minister also said his son was “rejecting treatment and he was not happy about anything in life,” according to Akyol.
Daily newspaper Posta reported on Dec. 17 that Yılmaz was diagnozed with temporal lobe epilepsy two years ago and occassionally sufferred from epileptic seizures.
The report also stated that Yılmaz had become depressed but he had not been taking his regular drugs for the past year.
Before heading to the U.S. for the treatment of his spouse Berna Yılmaz, the former prime minister had reportedly informed bodyguards of his son’s situation and urged them not to leave him alone.
According to Posta, Yılmaz called his father at 2.30 a.m. to ask about his mother’s health. He subsequently went to his father’s room and committed suicide half an hour later with a Smith & Wesson gun registered to the former prime minister.
No gunshot sound was heard in the neighborhood as all windows at the site were covered with bullet-proof glass, Posta reported.
Yılmaz’s funeral was also attended by Deputy Parliament Speaker Akif Hamzaçebi, Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, and former prime ministers Ahmet Davutoğlu and Tansu Çiller.