Zübeyde Hanım (1856 – 15 January 1923) was the mother of

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 Surname Law (Turkey), until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish Mareşal (Turkey), field marshal, Turkish National Movement, re ...

, the founder of the

Republic of Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. She was the only daughter of the Hacısofular family which included her two brothers. Zübeyde was born in Langaza village (now in Thessaloniki regional unit),

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

in 1857 as the daughter of a Turkish peasant. Hacısofular Family migrated to Macedonia after the collapse of

Karamanids The Karamanids ( tr, Karamanoğulları or ), also known as the Emirate of Karaman and Beylik of Karaman ( tr, Karamanoğulları Beyliği), was one of the Anatolian beyliks, centered in South-Central Anatolia around the present-day Karaman Pr ...

Early life

Zübeyde Hanım's education was basic and only consisted of learning to read and write. Because she could read and write, she was nicknamed Zübeyde Molla (someone knowledgeable and teaches other people, in particular, a teacher of theology) by some people. Zübeyde Hanım was a devout Muslim and as a result of her pious upbringing she wanted her son

to go to Mahalle Mektebi, an Islamic school that teaches the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...

. Zübeyde Hanım's first marriage was to

Ali Rıza Efendi Ali Rıza Efendi (1839–1888) was an official, and the father of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the husband of Zübeyde Hanım. He was born in Selanik, (modern Thessaloniki in present-day Macedonia, Greece), back then the most important city ...

. With her dark blonde hair, deep blue eyes and fair skin, she won the admiration of Ali Rıza, a border guard. Ali Riza's older sister arranged this marriage - as was the tradition at that time. Zübeyde Hanım was in her early teens and 20 years younger than her husband. Their first child was Fatma, followed by Ömer and Ahmet, but they all died in childhood. In 1881, she gave birth to a son Mustafa, and a daughter, Makbule in 1885. Zübeyde Hanım, also gave birth to a daughter Naciye in 1889, but she 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 childhood.

Zübeyde and Kemal

She was widowed at a young age, as her husband died when their son Mustafa was six years old. Following his death, Zübeyde Hanım moved with her two children, Mustafa and Makbule to live with her brother, Hüseyin, who was the manager of a farm outside

Salonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

. In her second marriage she was married to Ragıp Bey, who had four children from his previous marriage. She could not see Mustafa Kemal during the

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

in 1919.

Later life

After 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 ...

, when the Ottomans lost Salonica to

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 wi ...

, she moved to a house in

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, ...

- Akaretler, Istanbul with her daughter Makbule. She 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, maki ...

in 1922, but the climate was not suitable for her, so she was sent to

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...

. She died on 15 January 1923, and a memorial was built for her in 1940, where she rests now.

Notes

References

* The initial version of this article has been copied (with permission to copy and redistribute with proper attribution) from http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/archives.php?id=4000 : The permission is given by Yusuf Kanlı, the editor in chief of ''

Turkish Daily News Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Zubeyde Hanim 1857 births 1923 deaths People from Thessaloniki (regional unit) Mustafa Kemal Atatürk 19th-century people from the Ottoman Empire Macedonian Turks Turks from the Ottoman Empire