Yeşilçam's 'Zıpzıp' Left on the Street in Old Age

Necdet Kökeş was born in Adana, Turkey, and was active in sport as a young man, playing football, wrestling and practising aikido. In 1962 he moved to Istanbul to work in film. He began as an extra, and his first film was Leyla ile Mecnun in 1963.

Over the decades that followed he became a familiar face of Yeşilçam, the Turkish film industry of that era. By his own count he appeared in about 105 films and worked alongside well-known names such as Ayhan Işık, Cüneyt Arkın and Kemal Sunal, and he also took on jobs behind the camera. In 1972 he joined the Battal Gazi series, where his character Zıp Zıp made him widely recognised by audiences.

In an interview with Habertürk in early 2025, then in his eighties, he said he had earned good money from acting but had not looked after it well. He named alcohol as the main reason it was lost, called it his greatest regret, and said he had not had a drink for ten years.

The report says that in the days before the interview he had been left on the street and was then taken to hospital. It does not explain in detail how he came to be without a home, where he had been living, or what support he received afterwards, so those points are not known from this source.

Habertürk describes his situation as part of a wider pattern, a hard later life shared by many actors of his generation. His story is that of a performer who spent six decades in the industry and who, in old age, found himself without a secure place to stay.