Dilek Ertek's funeral prayers in absentia were offered at Teşvikiye Mosque after being missing for 20 days.
Turkish tycoon Ertek, 69, the distributor of the world-famous Tiffany&Co jewelry brand in Türkiye, reportedly fell from a ship in Haiti, but the search so far has been unable to find any trace of her.
Ertek, who went missing on Oct. 25 while traveling aboard a cruise ship off Tahiti of French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean, remained in the highlights of the media for a week. According to some sources, she was claimed to be carrying precious jewelry at the time of her disappearance and might have been murdered during a robbery.
Search efforts have been carried out since then. On the other hand, Ertek’s daughter Gökçe Atuk also traveled to Tahiti and contacted authorities for more assistance in locating her, but the search efforts failed to yield any results and eventually it was reported that Ertek fell from the 11th floor of the ship Norwegian Spirit.
Subsequently, a funeral prayer in absentia was held at the Teşvikiye Mosque today at noon.
The funeral was attended by many business tycoons and Ertek's relatives. Gökçe Atuk and her husband accepted their condolences. The deceased's photograph was decorated with flowers and placed on the coffin stone.
Buket Taşdelen, Ertek's friend, said, “Dilek loved to travel, She was a really good friend. It's hard to find friends like her now. I don't know what just happened, nothing has been concluded yet." There has been a lot of speculations, she added. Hayrettin Taşdelen said: "We are very sorry, to lose Dilek, she was our friend for 30-35 years. Representing the world's largest jewelry brand in Türkiye is not for everyone."
Dilek Ertek's high school friend Ender Mermerci said, “We were friends for 55 years. She was a great person. She was closer to me than my own siblings. I lost a wonderful sister."
Dilek Sabancı said, "I will always pray for her and remember her. She will live with me as long as I am alive.
