During his stay in İstanbul, he made an effort to keep up with his regular lifestyle for a while, heading the Council of Ministers meeting, working on the Hatay issue, and hosting King Carol II of Romania during his visit in June.

He stayed on board his newly arrived yacht, Savarona, until the end of July, after which his health again worsened and then he moved to a room arranged for him at the Dolmabahçe Palace.

Atatürk's death certificate, signed by nine medical professors, officially declared that the founder and president of the Turkish Republic had died at 09:05 local time on November 10, 1938, in the state residence of Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul from his long-lasting illness.

However, his sister Makbule Atadan, who stayed at the palace for several days, insisted on a religious funeral service to be held in a mosque, as is normally the case, before her brother's body was transferred to Ankara.

The funeral prayer was attended by people who were close to him, some generals, religious officials, palace servants and Hafız Major Yaşar Okur, who served with Atatürk for fifteen years.

[2] Prof. Mehmet Kâmil Berk, one of the signers of the death certificate, bound Atatürk's jaw with a silk handkerchief and his big toes with a bandage, as per Islamic rites.

[2] His body then lay in repose while his sister Makbule Atadan, high-ranking government officials and officers, and other influential people came at specified times to pay their respects.

[10] The cortege with Atatürk's flag-covered casket on a horse-drawn caisson processed to the Ethnography Museum of Ankara escorted also by nine armed detachments from foreign nations, among them British,[11] Iranian[12] and Yugoslavian[13] guards of honor.

Arrived at the Ethnography Museum of Ankara, Atatürk's casket was placed inside a white marmor sarcophagus specially built along with the covering Turkish flag.

[14] After completion of Anıtkabır in 1953, his sarcophagus was opened and his casket was taken out with the help of a trispastos in the presence of his sister Makbule Atadan, President Celal Bayar, Parliament speaker Refik Koraltan, Prime Minister Adnan Menderes, Chief of General Staff Nuri Yamut, Abdülhalik Renda and some other high officials.

138 young reserve officers in a procession that stretched for two miles (3 km) including the President, the Premier, every Cabinet minister, every parliamentary deputy, every provincial governor and every foreign diplomat, while at the same time 21 million Turks stood silently and motionless for five minutes all over the country.