UPDATE - Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov dies

*UPDATES WITH MORE DETAILS ON KARIMOV AND HIS FUNERAL.

TASHKENT (AA) – Uzbekistan's president, Islam Karimov, died Friday, the country's government has confirmed.

Three days of national mourning have been declared, the Uzbek parliament and government said in a joint statement.

Karimov, 78, had been in intensive care since last Saturday for a cerebral hemorrhage.

Karimov was Uzbekistan’s first and only president following the country's declaration of becoming an independent nation on Aug. 31, 1991.

Uzbekistan’s Constitution says if the president is unable to discharge his duties, his functions are carried out for a period of three months by the head of the upper house of the Uzbek parliament.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and prime minister, Binali Yildirim, offered his condolences to the Uzbek people on Karimov's death.

He was the first foreign leader to ban the activities of the Fetullah Terrorist Organization, or FETO, in his country following the July 15 defeated coup in Turkey.

Karimov will be buried Saturday in the city of Samarkand, where he was born in 1938.

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Tugrul Turkes is expected to attend the funeral.