He was the third Turk ever to appear on the cover of Time Magazine. His people regarded him as the leading reformer in Turkish history after Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey. He was a frequent adviser of former President George H.W. Bush during the first Gulf War, and as a show of appreciation, was a guest at Camp David with his family.
A grief-stricken Turkish nation gave him an unprecedented “people’s farewell” after his sudden death in office in 1993. Now the Turkish state prosecutor says late president Turgut Ozal did not die of natural causes, but was murdered, and points his finger at the military.