Final farewell to head of Ottoman family

By Mustafa Keles and Selcuk Acar

NEW YORK (AA) - The funeral of Osman Bayezid Osmanoglu, the head of the family that ruled the Ottoman Empire for more than 600 years, was held in New York late Monday.

Osmanoglu, 92, the second son of the grandson of 19th century Sultan Abdulmecid I, was mourned at the Eyup Sultan Mosque in Brooklyn. He was buried in Washington Memorial Park Cemetery on Long Island.

His late brother’s wife Zeynep Osman and leading figures from New York’s Turkish community attended the ceremony. “I’m deeply sad for losing someone so humble and such a gentlemen,” she told Anadolu Agency.

Osmanoglu was the first member of the dynasty born abroad following the abolition of the sultanate by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. After moving to New York he followed a career as a librarian until his retirement in 1997.

He will be succeeded as the head of the family by Dundar Osmanoglu, who lives in Damascus, Syria.