Yasin Hatipoglu, a close aide, confirmed the death of Erbakan in a telephone call to NTV television. The Anatolia news agency says Erbakan, 85, died at Ankara's Guven hospital Sunday.

Erbakan served only a year as prime minister before he was pressured by the secular military to step down in 1997.
He was convicted of falsifying party records and hiding millions in cash reserves ordered seized after his Welfare Party was shut down in 1997.