Süleyman Dirbirliği, whose dramatic story of adopting an orphan during the Korean War was recently featured in a movie, passed away Thursday in the hospital where he was receiving treatment.
91-year-old Dilbirliği was hospitalized on Nov. 12 due to respiratory and renal failure, and remained in the intensive care unit of Haydarpaşa Training and Research Hospital in Istanbul.
In a statement, the hospital said that Dilbirliği's condition had worsened in the past week, and that he died due to multiple organ failure.
Dilbirliği's funeral ceremony will be held at the Selimiye Mosque on Friday and he will later be interred at the Karacaahmet Cemetery.
Serving as a sergeant in the Turkish Brigade during the Korean War, Dilbirliği adopted a five-year-old Korean child, Kim Eunja, who lost her family during the war. Separated after the war, Dilbirliği and Kim were reunited in 2010.
Their story was featured in the 2017 movie "Ayla: The Daughter of War," which was nominated by Turkey for the Best Foreign Language Film category in the 90th Academy Awards.
