Mausoleum of Turgut Özal

Turgut Özal Monument Tomb, the structure where the tomb of Turkey's 8th president Turgut Özal, who died on 17 April 1993, is located. After a five‑year construction period it was opened to visitors in 1998. Its architect is Yılmaz Sanlı. Turgut Özal is the first president buried in Istanbul.

Funeral ceremony

The funeral cortege, brought from Ankara to Istanbul by Turkish Airlines, was taken to the Istanbul Faculty of Medicine. After being kept there for one night, it was moved to the prepared area inside Topkapı Cemetery and buried with a state ceremony. The open‑sided tomb, whose upper part is made of green granite marble 2 metres wide, was later covered with green granite marble.

Re‑opening of the tomb

As part of the investigation by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office into the suspicious nature of Özal's death, the Istanbul Institute of Forensic Medicine opened the tomb on 2 October 2012 and Özal's body was taken to the Forensic Medicine Institute in Yenibosna. After examinations and samples were taken, Özal's body, received from the Institute of Forensic Medicine, was re‑buried on 5 October 2012 in a state ceremony attended by his wife Semra Özal. In addition to Semra Özal, the funeral ceremony was attended by his son Ahmet Özal, his daughter Zeynep Özal, Presidential General Secretary Mustafa İsen, European Union Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bağış and his wife Beyhan Bağış, Istanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu, Istanbul Metropolitan Mayor Kadir Topbaş, 1st Army Commander General Yalçın Ataman, Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Turhan Çolakkadı and Institute of Forensic Medicine President Haluk İnce.