1.
GV Crowd file past coffin
0.05

2.
SV Weeping mourners file past
0.08

3.
GTV Others enter Parliament House
0.24

4.
GV Coffin draped with Turkish flag (2 shots)
0.29

5.
CU Military commander pays respects
0.35

6.
SV Ext. Coffin bearers carry coffin from Parliament House
0.43

7.
CU Weeping Crowd (2)
0.48

8.
GV Coffin laid to rest on gun carriage
0.54

9.
SCU Pan Along line of deputies, politicians and officials
1.02

10.
LV Troops march with coffin Pan LV crowds
1.12

11.
SV Pan Crowd in street to coffin past carried by bearers
1.18

12.
LV Troops line street as coffin passes
1.25

13.
GV Coffin through streets
1.31



Initials SC/002 SC/134



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Thousands of Turks filed past the body of Mr. Ismet Inonu, Kemal Ataturk's successor, as he lay in state on a catafalque in the National Assembly building in Ankara on Friday (28 December).

Mr. Inonu, who served as President, Prime Minister and military leader in a public career stretching back to the days of the Ottoman Empire, died on Tuesday (25 December) at the age of 89 after a heart attack.

The funeral parade began at the Parliament Building, where Mr. Inonu sat as a Deputy and Senator for 53 years. During the 24 hours his body lay in state, an estimated 250,000 people filed past in tribute.

Grief-stricken crowds lined the cold streets of Ankara as the cortege made its way to the mausoleum of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey.

At Friday's six-hour long ceremony, Mr. Inonu was frequently referred to as a national hero who led the Turkish Army to victory against the Greeks during the 1921-23 war.

His coffin was placed under marble directly opposite the tomb of Ataturk -- the greatest tribute Turkey can pay its statesmen.

SYNOPSIS: Turkey was a country in mourning on Friday after the death of its elder statesman, Ismet Inonu -- the man who helped Kemal Ataturk establish the modern Turkish nation.

An estimated quarter of a million people filed past his body lying in state in the National Assembly building in Ankara.