ISTANBUL // He once reviewed a military parade in shorts and a T-shirt, was shot in the finger in a botched attempt on his life and, some say, was killed by assassins who laced his orange juice with poison.
To find out the truth about the death of the former Turkish premier and president, Turgut Ozal, Turkey is digging up its past.
After receiving a report by special investigators, the state prosecutor in Ankara this month ordered Ozal exhumed.
Forensic experts will be looking for evidence that suggests Ozal, who served as the country's president from 1989 until his death in 1993, was murdered. No date has been set for the exhumation.
A pious, jovial and chubby man with a history of heart problems, Ozal was working on a political solution for Turkey's Kurdish conflict when he died at 65.
As prime minister, he was credited with launching reforms that triggered an economic boom in the early 1980s, and with reining in Turkey's powerful military when he was president.
Rumours that Ozal was murdered, possibly from members of the state security forces who resisted his efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Kurdish problem, have lingered for years.
Media reports have said that shortly before his death, Mr Ozal opposed the adoption of a counter-guerrilla strategy by the state, including the deployment of right-wing hit men, to hunt down leaders and alleged sympathisers of Kurdish rebels. Members of the security forces, known collectively as the "deep state", are accused of thousands of extrajudicial killings in the Kurdish area in the 1990s.
But it was only when Abdullah Gul, the current president, asked the State Supervisory Council (DDK), a unit of special investigators in his office, to look at the circumstances of Ozal's death that rumours gained some traction
In the DDK report, released in June after 18 months of investigation, the five detectives noted that even though "the sudden death of a sitting president should always be treated as suspicious", authorities did not have an autopsy performed and did not gather evidence after Mr Ozal died on April 17, 1993.
"This is a situation that can be described as an 'eclipse of reason'," the report said. It added the speculation about Ozal's death could only be investigated further once the cause of death was known.
Semra Ozal, the late president's widow, has maintained that her husband was poisoned. Turkish newspapers reported last week that investigators were concentrating on orange juice that the president was served during a reception a day before his death.
Members of Ozal's family have expressed doubts about the upcoming exhumation.
Media reports claim that Ozal's son Efe has asked the prosecution to call off the exhumation. Ozal's daughter Zeynep told the Hurriyet newspaper this week that the family was uneasy with the prospect of disturbing her father's rest, even though the family wanted to know the details behind her father's death.
"In our faith, this is not right," Ms Ozal told the newspaper, in reference to the exhumation. She also said the exhumation could have wide-ranging consequences for Turkey.
"If the exhumation proves that my father was poisoned, that will be a shame for the Turkish republic," she said. "It will be clear that a great president was killed in this country."
As the public waits for the exhumation, police have increased security around the grave in Topkapi Cemetery, just outside the ancient city walls of Istanbul, where the former president is buried. The monumental grave consists of a soaring metal arch over a sarcophagus of red stone.
On a recent day, some visitors of the cemetery expressed doubts as to whether the exhumation makes sense.
"What can possibly come out of this?" asked Bulent Aktas, 38, who had come to the cemetery to visit a grave of a relative. "There's nothing left anyway."
Yet, almost 20 years after his sudden death, Ozal remains a revered figure for Turks. Policemen at the cemetery said an average of 40 to 50 people visited the former president's grave every day.
"He was a good president," Cemil Bulut, 68, a visitor at the cemetery, said about Ozal. "Everyone says he was poisoned. They also killed Menderes," he added in reference to Adnan Menderes, a former Turkish prime minister who was executed in 1961, following a military coup a year earlier. Ozal is buried close to Menderes on the same cemetery.
Mehmet, a 63-year-old man at the cemetery who only would give his first name, said he supported the decision to open Ozal's grave. "The public has doubts, so it's good that those doubts will be cleared up," he said.
But he was unsure as to whether Ozal was murdered.
"We have a history of leaders being assassinated going back to the Ottomans," Mehmet said. "And Ozal himself was attacked before he was killed," he noted. In 1988, an attacker fired shots at Ozal during a speech, wounding his finger.
But at the time of his death, Ozal was known to have serious heart problems, undergoing triple bypass surgery in 1987. "It could have been a natural death," Mehmet said. "Anyway, even if they find out that it was murder, they will only know that he was killed, not by whom."
tseibert@thenational.ae
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 3-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 424hp
Torque: 580 Nm
Price: From Dh399,000
On sale: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
The bio
Favourite food: Japanese
Favourite car: Lamborghini
Favourite hobby: Football
Favourite quote: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough
Favourite country: UAE
The biog
Favourite food: Fish and seafood
Favourite hobby: Socialising with friends
Favourite quote: You only get out what you put in!
Favourite country to visit: Italy
Favourite film: Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Family: We all have one!
The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
The Bio
Favourite place in UAE: Al Rams pearling village
What one book should everyone read: Any book written before electricity was invented. When a writer willingly worked under candlelight, you know he/she had a real passion for their craft
Your favourite type of pearl: All of them. No pearl looks the same and each carries its own unique characteristics, like humans
Best time to swim in the sea: When there is enough light to see beneath the surface
THE BIO: Martin Van Almsick
Hometown: Cologne, Germany
Family: Wife Hanan Ahmed and their three children, Marrah (23), Tibijan (19), Amon (13)
Favourite dessert: Umm Ali with dark camel milk chocolate flakes
Favourite hobby: Football
Breakfast routine: a tall glass of camel milk
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
SM Town Live is on Friday, April 6 at Autism Rocks Arena, Dubai. Tickets are Dh375 at www.platinumlist.net
