By Margaret Sheard ….
We were saddened to hear the news that Gűlseren Sadak (known to many British expats as Rosa) passed away on Friday 5th April. She had apparently been unwell for a few weeks and died in hospital.
I had known Rosa for many years from the time when I moved to North Cyprus 15+ years ago when she was a near neighbour in Ozankoy before moving to Bellapais and then to the Altinkaya Resort following the death of her husband Ali Yaliman. She told us she needed very little and only took her piano, books and cat when she moved into one of the Altinkaya bungalows.
Rosa was well-known as an international concert pianist and had performed in many countries worldwide in her younger days but still played at Bellapais Abbey during the Music Festivals in later years, so I always made a point of trying to be there to listen to her beautiful music, her favourite composers being Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninov.
Over the years we had spent considerable time talking to Rosa and discovered that she was a very spiritual lady, in fact she told us she had lived in Cyprus centuries ago where she was a Nun and this is one of the reasons she wanted to come and live here.
We also learned that Rosa’s late maternal uncle was Ali Muhiddin Hacibekir so she is a descendant of the original inventor of Turkish Delight – Haci Bekir. To read the article about the Origins of Turkish Delight, which was originally published in Cyprus Observer newspaper and later on our website, click here.
We are not aware of funeral arrangements but have been told that it is possible Rosa will be buried in Istanbul.
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