Halide Edib Adivar

Halide Edib Adıvar was a prominent Turkish writer, scholar, and public figure who dedicated her life to the rights of women and their emancipation. She was born in Istanbul in 1884 to an upper-class family. Her father was a secretary of the Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid II. She was educated at home by private tutors and at the American College for Girls in Istanbul, where she graduated in 1901. She became interested in Turkish literature, politics, and social issues, and started writing articles for newspapers and journals. She also translated several books from English and French into Turkish. She married Salih Zeki Bey, a mathematician and astronomer, in 1901 and had two children with him. She divorced him in 1910 after a conflict over her involvement in public affairs. She was one of the leading figures of the Turkish nationalist movement during the First World War and the Turkish War of Independence. She joined the Society for the Elevation of Women (Taali-i Nisvan) and the Turkish Hearths (Türk Ocağı), and became a close associate of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic. She gave speeches to mobilize the public against the occupation of Istanbul by the Allied Powers, and participated in the resistance activities in Anatolia. She also served as a soldier and a nurse in the Turkish army, earning the nickname Halide Onbaşı (Corporal Halide). She wrote several novels, memoirs, and essays based on her experiences and observations of the Turkish society during this turbulent period. Some of her most famous works are Ateşten Gömlek (The Shirt of Flame), Vurun Kahpeye (Strike the Whore), and Sinekli Bakkal (The Clown and His Daughter). She married Adnan Adıvar, a physician and politician, in 1917 and accompanied him to various diplomatic missions abroad. She also continued her literary and academic career, writing novels, stories, plays, and studies on Turkish culture and history. She taught literature at Istanbul University and became the head of the English Philology Department. She was also elected as a member of the Turkish Parliament in 1950, representing the İzmir province. She was an advocate of democracy, secularism, and human rights, and opposed the authoritarian tendencies of the single-party regime. She also supported the cultural and political rights of the Kurdish and other minority groups in Turkey. She died of kidney failure in Istanbul in 1964, and was buried at the Merkezefendi Cemetery. She is widely regarded as one of the most influential and prolific Turkish writers of the 20th century, and a pioneer of the Turkish feminist movement. She received several awards and honors for her contributions to Turkish literature and society, such as the Order of Charity (Şefkat Nişanı) from the Ottoman sultan, the Medal of Independence (İstiklal Madalyası) from the Turkish Republic, and the Halide Edip Adıvar Scholarship from the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association.