Another star has fallen! Genco Erkal was bid farewell on his final journey.

Genco Erkal, who has appeared in numerous films and theater plays and has been undergoing treatment for leukemia for some time, passed away at the age of 86 on Tuesday. A commemoration ceremony was held for Erkal, who deeply saddened the art world with his death.

COULD NOT HOLD BACK TEARS

Seranad Bağcan, Selda Bağcan, Fazıl Say, Zeliha Berksoy, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Şişli Municipality Mayor Resul Emre Şahan, DİSK General President Arzu Çerkezoğlu, Emre Kınay, and Şevket Çoruh attended the ceremony held for the artist at the Harbiye Muhsin Ertuğrul Stage.

Nazım Hikmet's poem "My Homeland" and the song "Human Human" were performed at the ceremony. Tülay Günal, who has been working with Genco Erkal for many years, could not hold back her tears during her speech. Göncü, who could not control her emotions while bidding farewell to Erkal, said, "It will be a very difficult farewell, but as I see the people who have come... Today, I will be on the same stage with him for the last time. In his last days, he told me, 'You have to stand strong, you have to be strong.' Of course, I will listen to my master's words and bid him farewell as he wanted."

İMAMOĞLU: IT IS RIGHT TO REMEMBER HIM AS A WALNUT TREE IN GÜLHANE PARK

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu said, "Genco Erkal always maintained his stance and could not be silenced. It is right to remember him as a walnut tree in Gülhane Park. We are grateful to him and will always remember him as one of our legends."

Genco Erkal's friend and lawyer Turgut Kazan said in his speech, "It is a Turkish classic for a lawyer to speak on the death anniversary of a unique artist like Genco. Genco was an incredible human rights advocate, and his actions were always like this."

WHO IS GENCO ERKAL?

Genco Erkal was born on March 28, 1938, in Istanbul. Working as an actor and director in important private theater groups in Turkey since 1959, Genco Erkal founded Dostlar Tiyatrosu, which is now the art director and a pioneer in the development of political theater in Turkey.

In 1965, he adapted Russian writer Nikolay Gogol's story "Diary of a Madman" into a play and staged it as the first one-man show based on a Western text in Turkey. This work, which he performed with three different interpretations over the years, became synonymous with him. Erkal was known as a master of one-man shows.

Genco Erkal adapted the works of many artists, from Aziz Nesin to Haldun Taner, from Nâzım Hikmet to Behiç Ak and Yaşar Kemal, for the theater. He narrated many works in symphonic concerts. In cinema, he won the Golden Orange Award twice at the Antalya Film Festival in the "Best Actor" category with the films "Horse" in 1982 and "Attack on Faize" in 1983.