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 st ...

and sociologist. She was one of the eight adopted daughters of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. She was known to be involved in the practice of physical anthropology, as she measured over sixty thousands skulls in

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 ...

, 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, t ...

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 of ...

), 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 ...

) in Salonica Vilayet. She and her family emigrated to

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 Re ...

because of the Balkan Wars. 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, maki ...

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 ''Karaoğlan'' is a Turkish historical comic book that was created in 1963 by Suat Yalaz. It was first published on January 3, 1962 daily in ''Akşam'' newspaper. Karaoğlan was started to be published by Yalaz as a separate comics magazine on ...

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, i ...

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 and was assigned as headteacher to Elmalı Girls' School. She graduated from the Bursa 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 , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

, Switzerland, 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 O ...

. 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 vocat ...

. 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