Ayşe Afet İnan (30 October 1908 – 8 June 1985) was a Turkish

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and sociologist. She was one of the eight adopted daughters of

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Repub ...

. She was known to be involved in the practice of

physical anthropology Biological anthropology, also known as physical anthropology, is a scientific discipline concerned with the biological and behavioral aspects of human beings, their extinct hominin ancestors, and related non-human primates, particularly from an e ...

, as she measured over sixty thousands skulls in Anatolia, which was aimed to support the

Turkish History Thesis The Turkish History Thesis (''Türk Tarih Tezi'') is a Turkish ultranationalist, pseudohistoric thesis which posited the belief that the Turks moved from their ancestral homeland in Central Asia and migrated to China, India, the Balkans, th ...

Biography

Afet İnan was born to İsmail Hakkı

Bey Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...

(''İsmail Hakkı Uzmay'') and Şehzane Hanım from Doyran (present day

Dojran Dojran ( mk, Дојран ) was a city on the west shore of Lake Dojran in the southeast part of North Macedonia. Today, it is a collective name for two villages on the territory of the ruined city: Nov Dojran (New Dojran, settled from the end ...

), in 1908 in the district of Kesendire (Polyoroz, present day Kassandra,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

) in

Salonica Vilayet The Vilayet of Salonica ( ota, ولايت سلانيك, Vilâyet-i Selânik) was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) of the Ottoman Empire from 1867 to 1912. In the late 19th century it reportedly had an area of .Adapazarı Adapazarı () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the central district of Sakarya Province. The province itself was originally named Adapazarı as well. Adapazarı is a part of the densely populated region of the country known as the Marmara Regi ...

because of the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and def ...

. She started primary school in Adapazarı on March 4, 1913.　They then moved to

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, mak ...

Mihalıççık Mihalıççık, also Mihalıçcık (English: Micalizo, sometimes Mihaliccik), is a town and district of Eskişehir Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türki ...

, Karaoğlan,

Biga Biga may refer to: Places * Biga, Çanakkale, a town and district of Çanakkale Province in Turkey * Sanjak of Biga, an Ottoman province * Biga Çayı, a river in Çanakkale Province * Biga Peninsula, a peninsula in Turkey, in the northwest par ...

. Her mother Şehzane died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in w ...

on May 15, 1915. Since her father then married a young girl, Ayşe Afet decided to become a teacher to earn her own living. İpek Çalışlar, ''Latife Hanım'', ISBN Doğan Kitap, 2006, , p. 384. When they lived in Biga, her younger sister Nezihe was born to her father Ismail Hakki and his second wife. In 1920, she finished her six years of primary education. In 1921, they settled to Alanya. In 1922, she got a teaching qualification in

Elmalı Elmalı is a town and district in Antalya Province, the Mediterranean region of Turkey. It lies about inland, near the town of Korkuteli and west of the city of Antalya. In 2007, the population for the whole district was 36.213, of which 14,0 ...

and was assigned as headteacher to Elmalı Girls' School. She graduated from the

Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...

Teachers College for Girls in 1925, and started to work as a primary school teacher in Izmir. She met Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in October of the same year during his visit to Izmir. RukiyeSabihaAfetZehra

Afet was sent in 1925 by Atatürk to Lausanne,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, to learn French. After returning to Turkey in 1927, she attended the French

Lycée Notre Dame de Sion Istanbul Lycée Notre Dame de Sion Istanbul ( tr, Notre Dame de Sion Özel Fransız Lisesi) is a French private high school located in the Harbiye, Şişli neighbourhood of Istanbul, Turkey. It was founded in 1856. The high school was established in the ...

. On finishing there she was appointed as a secondary school teacher for history. In 1935, Afet İnan went to Switzerland again and was a student of Eugène Pittard at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

between 1936 and 1938. In 1939, after graduating, she obtained a PhD in sociology. In 1950, she became a professor at the

University of Ankara Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vocati ...

. She was the co-founder and a leading member of the

Turkish Historical Society The Turkish Historical Society ( tr, Türk Tarih Kurumu, TTK) is a research society studying the history of Turkey and the Turkish people, founded in 1931 by the initiative of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, with headquarters in Ankara, Turkey. It has been ...

. İnan died on June 8, 1985, in

, leaving behind her daughter Arı and her son Demir. The "Afet İnan Historical Studies Award" is given biennially by the Turkish History Foundation in cooperation with İnan's family.

References

Selected bibliography

*''Medeni bilgiler ve M. Kemal Atatürk'ün el yazıları'', Ankara, Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1969 *''Atatürk'ten yazdıklarım'', Ankara, 1969 *''Recherches Sur les Caractéres Anthropologiques des Population de la Turquie'', Genève, 1939 *''Türk Amirali Piri Reis'in Hayatı ve Eserleri'' *''L'émancipation de la Femme Turque'' *''Eski Mısır Tarih ve Medeniyeti'', 1956 (History of the Ancient Egypt)
Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inan, Afet 1908 births 1985 deaths Writers from Thessaloniki People from Salonica vilayet Macedonian Turks Turkish sociologists Turkish women historians Turkish expatriates in Switzerland Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Ankara University faculty University of Geneva alumni Turkish women academics 20th-century Turkish historians Lycée Notre Dame de Sion Istanbul alumni