ISTANBUL: The last surviving head of the House of Osman, the royal dynasty that once ruled the Ottoman Empire – which ruled vast territories for six centuries, before it was replaced by the Turkish Republic – has died at age 88 in Syria. Prince Dundar Abdulkerim Osmanoglu lost his life at a hospital on Monday in the Syrian capital Damascus, where he had been receiving treatment. His nephew Prince Abdulhamid Kayihan extended his condolences to the Turkish people.