Müfide İlhan (19 February 1911 – 2 February 1996) was a Turkish politician. She was the mayor of

Mersin Mersin () is a large city and port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of Mediterranean Region, Turkey, southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of the Mersin Province (formerly İçel). It is made up of four district governorates ...

in the early 1950s and is known as being the first woman mayor in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Early life

Müfide İlhan was born on 19 February 1911 in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

.Kudret Ünal:''Müfide İlhan'', Tarsus Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, Tarsus, 2013 , p. 11 Her father was Mustafa Nazif, an army officer and her mother was Emine, a homemaker. She was only four years of age when her father Nafiz fell at Conk Bayırı during the Gallipoli campaign in the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. After the war, she was sent to

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, where she completed her elementary education. After the liberation of Istanbul, she moved to Istanbul and completed her secondary education in the Kandilli High School for Girls. In 1928 she finished teachers' college. After finishing the college she began serving as a teacher in Istanbul.

First marriage

In 1928 she married Nuri Çetinkaya an army officer. She accompanied her husband in various Turkish cities such as

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...

and

Kırklareli Kırklareli () is a city in the East Thrace, European part of Turkey. It is the seat of Kırklareli Province and Kırklareli District.military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of ...

she studied at Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus Institute. However, in 1936 the couple divorced and Müfide returned to Ankara.

Second marriage

In Ankara she met with Doctor Faruk İlhan. But Faruk İlhan had to travel to

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

to establish the Medicine school of

Kabul University Kabul University (KU; ) is one of the major and oldest institutions of higher education in Afghanistan. It is in the 3rd District of the capital Kabul near the Ministry of Higher Education. It was founded in 1931 by King Mohammed Nadir Shah, wh ...

. They married in Kabul. In 1945 towards the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the couple decided to return to Turkey. But because of the war-time hardships and unrest in Karachi, the couple was not able to sail back. So, they returned home by a car over

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, which seemed impossible to many people in 1945. In 1946, they decided to settle in Mersin, Faruk İlhan's home city.

Political life

In Mersin she began to get interested in politics. The Democrat Party (DP) defeated the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

(CHP) in 1950 general elections, thus ended 27-years rule of the CHP, which later on was called the 'white revolution'. Müfide İlhan became the mayor of Mersin as the candidate of DP on 3 September 1950 elections, and she created sensation both at home and abroad for being the first ever

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

mayor of Turkey, at a time when the participation of Turkish women in politics was still considerably low. She was invited to Great Britain. İlhan, as most reformists of the day, was against the authoritarian administration of pre-1950 CHP government. However she was not against the ideology of CHP, so called Kemalism. Thus, some early moves of DP government, which seemed to be against Kemalism, disappointed her. For example, it was difficult for her to accept DP government's lift of the ban on Arabic ezan. It was the CHP government, which initiated ezan in Turkish in 1932 instead of in traditional Arabic. On 17 December 1951, after a year of extensive work, she resigned from her post. After a while she also resigned from the party. She formed a league named 'League for supporting independent candidates' in Mersin. She also published a short lived bulletin named ''Mücadele'' (). However, after her husband was appointed to İzmit as chief physician she left Mersin in 1955.

Other activities

Between 1968 and 1981 she worked as a teacher in Germany for Turkish immigrants. She worked in a number of social associations. In her later years she donated to hospitals and a retirement home in Mersin.

Personal life

Müfide had seven children; two daughters from the first marriage, one son and three daughters from the second marriage and one adopted son. In 1965, she was elected as the 'mother of the year' by the Turkish Association of Mothers.

Legacy

A neighborhood in Akdeniz municipality and a public park in Yenişehir municipality are named after her. One of the art galleries of İçel Sanat Kulübü (the main art club of Mersin) is also named after her. On 4 April 2015 the municipality of Mersin erected a statue of Müfide İlhan Hürriyet newspaper
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ilhan, Mufide 1911 births 1996 deaths 20th-century mayors of places in Turkey Women mayors of places in Turkey Mayors of Mersin Turkish schoolteachers Democrat Party (Turkey, 1946–1960) politicians 20th-century Turkish women politicians First women mayors