Another star has fallen! Genco Erkal was sent off on his final journey

Genco Erkal, who took part in countless movies and plays and was treated for blood cancer for a while, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 86. A memorial ceremony was held for Erkal, whose death plunged the art world into mourning.

HE COULDN’T HOLD HIS TEARS

Seranad Bağcan, Selda Bağcan, Fazıl Say, Zeliha Berksoy, IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, Şişli 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 Memleketim and the composition İnsan İnsan were sung at the ceremony. Tülay Günal, who has worked with Genco Erkal for many years, could not hold back her tears while giving her speech. Göncü, who could not hold back her emotions while saying goodbye to Erkal, said, “It will be a very difficult farewell, but when I see the people who come… Today, I will be on the same stage with him for the last time. He told me in his last days, ‘You will stand firm, you will be strong.’ Of course, I will listen to my master and send him off as he wishes.”

IMAMOGLU: IT WOULD BE RIGHT TO REMEMBER HIM BY SAYING HE WAS A WALNUT TREE IN GULHANE PARK

IMM President Ekrem İmamoğlu said, “Genco Erkal always maintained his stance and could not be silenced. It would be right to remember him by saying ‘He was a walnut tree in Gülhane Park’. We are grateful for him and will always remember him as one of our legends.”

Erkal’s friend and lawyer Turgut Kazan said in his speech, “A lawyer’s speech on the anniversary of the death of an original artist like Genco is a classic in Turkey. Genco was an incredible human rights defender and his actions have always been like this.”

WHO IS GENCO ERKAL?

Genco Erkal was born in Istanbul on March 28, 1938. Having worked as an actor and director in Turkey’s important private theater groups since 1959, Genco Erkal founded the Dostlar Theater in 1969, of which he is still the artistic director and which has played a leading role in the development of political theater in Turkey.

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

Genco Erkal adapted the works of many artists from Aziz Nesin to Haldun Taner, from Nazım Hikmet to Behiç Ak and Yaşar Kemal for the theater. He performed many works as a narrator in symphonic concerts. In cinema, he received the Golden Orange award twice at the Antalya Film Festival for the “Best Actor” category with the films The Horse in 1982 and Faize Hücum in 1983.