Şule Yüksel Şenler (29 May 1938 – 28 August 2019) was a Turkish writer, journalist. Throughout her life, she struggled for the freedom of Turkish women to practice their religion by putting headscarf and proposed an Islamic view and lifestyle. Moreover, she was the designer of so-called "Türban", instead of the traditional "Başörtüsü" that was common in Anatolia for centuries, in which she had learned from an Armenian tailor.

Biography

Yüksel Şenler was born in

Kayseri Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large Industrialisation, industrialised List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is comp ...

on 29 May 1938 into a family of

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( tr, Kıbrıs Türkleri or ''Kıbrıslı Türkler''; el, Τουρκοκύπριοι, Tourkokýprioi) are ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,00 ...

origin. She later adopted "Şule" as a first name. When she was young, she emigrated to

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

with her family. She left school when in 8th Grade, and started working for an Armenian tailor. This led her to create her own model of a modern headscarf in the future. She started to work as a journalist at the age of 21. In 1965, she began wearing the

hijab In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...

. Lawsuits were brought against her due to her articles in ''Yeni İstiklal'' newspaper, in which she encouraged women to wear the

. She grew up during a time when Turkey pushed secularism, where women had to choose between

, or official schooling and professional careers. She traveled around

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

and started discussions at conferences, and many of her followers started wearing the headscarf. After some girls started to imitate her head covering style, this type of covering became known as sulebaşı. One conference caught the attention of then-president

Cevdet Sunay Cevdet Sunay (; 10 February 1899 – 22 May 1982) was a Turkish politician and army officer, who served as the fifth President of Turkey from 1966 to 1973. Early life and career Sunay was born in 1899 in Trabzon, in the Ottoman Empire. A ...

, who said "Those behind he increasing number ofcovered women on the streets, will be punished". Senler responded in a letter to

and was arrested, serving eight months in prison. Şenler wrote for ''Hür Söz'', ''Yeni İstiklal'', and ''Babıalide Sabah'' women's pages. After 1980, she wrote for ''Zaman'' and ''Milli Gazete''. Şenler's novel ''Huzur Sokağı'' ("Peace Street") became a popular TV drama. Despite her advanced age and illness, Şenler continued to occasionally publish articles in newspapers and magazines. She died on 28 August 2019 from a heart attack in Istanbul.

Selected works

*Gençliğin Izdırabı *Hidayet *Bize Ne Oldu *İslam'da ve Günümüzde Kadın *Duyuşlar *Her Şey İslam için *Uygarlığın Gözyaşları *Huzur Sokağı *Kız ve Çiçek *Sağ El *Bir Bilinçli Öğretmen *Yılanla Tilki

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Senler, Sule Yuksel 1938 births 2019 deaths Turkish people of Cypriot descent People from Kayseri 20th-century Turkish writers 21st-century Turkish writers Turkish women journalists Turkish Islamists Burials at Eyüp Cemetery Female critics of feminism Hijab Controversies in Turkey