Ex-Turkish PM Ecevit passes away

ANKARA (Turkey)—Former Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit, a political force in Turkey for almost half a century who ordered the invasion of Cyprus and later pushed his country toward the West, died Sunday. He was 81. Ecevit died at Ankara’s GATA military hospital after nearly six months in a coma following a stroke, the hospital said in a statement.
He started his political career in 1957 as a staunchly left-wing lawmaker, but later became an American ally, a transformation that mirrored changes in his country which has gone from a largely insular nation to one that is increasingly opening to the West.—Agencies