Latife Uşaklıgil (born Fatıma-tüz Zehra Latife Uşakîzâde; with the honorifics, Latife Hanım) (17 June 1898 – 12 July 1975) was

Mustafa Kemal Mustafa ( ar, مصطفى , Muṣṭafā) is one of the names of Prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world. Given name ...

's (later Atatürk) wife between 1923 and 1925. She was related from her father's side to Turkish novelist

Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil Halid Ziya Uşaklıgil (also spelled Halit and Uşakizâde) (; 1866 – 27 March 1945) was a Turkish author, poet, and playwright. A part of the ''Edebiyat-ı Cedide'' ("New Literature") movement of the late Ottoman Empire, he was the founder o ...

Biography

Lâtife Hanım was born in 1898 in

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...

(now known in English as

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 ...

) to one of the most prominent trading families of the city, with roots in the city of

Uşak Uşak (; el, Ουσάκειον, Ousakeion) is a city in the interior part of the Aegean Region of Turkey. The city has a population of 500,000 (2016 census) and is the capital of Uşak Province. Uşak city is situated at a distance of from İz ...

, whence their unofficial family name of ''Uşakizâde''. She completed her high school studies in Smyrna and in 1919 she went abroad to study

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. When she came back to

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

, 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 ...

was nearing its end. On 11 September 1922, upon returning to her family mansion in Smyrna, she was confronted by soldiers who notified her that the Pasha had taken the house as General Headquarters in Smyrna. After convincing the soldiers that she actually belonged to the household, she was allowed in. Lâtife Hanım and Mustafa Kemal Pasha married on 29 January 1923 when he had returned to Smyrna just after his mother

Zübeyde Hanım Zübeyde Hanım (1856 – 15 January 1923) was the mother of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. She was the only daughter of the Hacısofular family which included her two brothers. Zübeyde was born in Langaza vil ...

's death. For two and a half years, Lâtife Hanım symbolized the new face of Turkish women as a first lady who was very present in public life which, in Turkey, was a novelty by the standards of her day. She had a significant influence on the reforms which began in Turkey in the 1920s for the

emancipation of women Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

. However, the relationship between her and her husband was not happy; after frequent arguments, the two were divorced on 5 August 1925. Lâtife Hanım lived the rest of her days in Izmir (as Smyrna came to be known in English after the 1930s) and

İstanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

(known as

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

in English prior to the 1930s), in virtual seclusion, avoiding contacts outside her private circle until her death in 1975. She never remarried, and remained silent about their relationship throughout her life. In 2005, 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 ...

was to make her diaries public "except for the most private ones, taking the views of her family into consideration". However, her family publicly claimed that they had the right to the ownership of the letters and stated that they did not wish the diaries to be published. Consequently, the society decided against the publication. A comprehensive but also controversial biography of Latife Hanım by the veteran ''

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: " Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Pr ...

'' journalist İpek Çalışlar was published in 2006. (archive.org link )

Gallery

File:Latife Hanım (1923).jpg, Latife Uşakizâde in 1923. File:Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Latife Uşşaki (1923).jpg, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and Latife Uşakizâde, during a trip in 1923. File:Karabekir, Latife Hanım ve Atatürk Edremit yolu üzerindeki Ergama köyünde (8 Şubat 1923) (3).jpg,

Kâzım Karabekir Musa Kâzım Karabekir (also spelled Kiazim Karabekir in English; 1882 – 26 January 1948) was a Turkish general and politician. He was the commander of the Eastern Army of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I and served as Speaker of ...

, Latife, and Mustafa Kemal in Ergama village on the way to Edremit on 8 February 1923. File:MustafaKemalPasha&LatifeHanim&Family early1923.jpg, Mustafa Kemal Pasha and Latife Hanım (''far left'') with her family in early 1923. File:LatifeUsakligil MustafaKemalAtaturk.gif, Mustafa Kemal and Latife. File:Grave of Latife Hanım.jpg, Grave of Latife Hanım in

Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery The Edirnekapı Martyr's Cemetery ( tr, Edirnekapı Şehitliği), one of the largest burial grounds of Istanbul, Turkey, is located in the neighborhood of Edirnekapı of Eyüp district, in the European part of the city. It consists of an old ...

, Istanbul

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Usaki, Latife 1898 births 1975 deaths People from İzmir Mustafa Kemal Atatürk First Ladies of Turkey 20th-century people from the Ottoman Empire Turks from the Ottoman Empire Deaths from cancer in Turkey Deaths from breast cancer