Istanbul, Oct 2 (IANS) Authorities in Turkey began work to exhume late president Turgut Ozal’s remains from his grave in Istanbul Tuesday, as part of an investigation into his death under mysterious circumstances in 1993.
Ozal, the eighth president of the Turkish republic, died of heart failure in April 1993 in an Ankara hospital at the age of 65, Xinhua reported.
A number of facts have led to suspicions surrounding his death — like on the day of his death Ozal’s in-house doctor and nurse were absent, the staff could not start the ambulance due to a mechanical problem, and first aid equipment was not available at the presidential residence, among other similar issues.
Heavy machinery was deployed to the gravesite, surrounded by steel walls, early Tuesday morning, where a criminal investigation team, a bomb disposal team, police officers and officials from the Council of Forensic Medicine were present.
The investigation began as the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office recently issued a warrant to exhume the remains of the late president for toxicology testing.
The prosecutor’s office is also investigating a number of unusual circumstances that came to light following Ozal’s supposed heart attack.
Ozal is remembered as a visionary who helped shape modern Turkey with free market economic policies.
