Nilüfer Gürsoy (; 1 June 1921 – 1 July 2024) was a Turkish philologist, politician and memoirist. She served in the parliament between 1965 and 1969, and from 1973 to 1980. She was the daughter of the third president of Turkey,

Celâl Bayar Mahmut Celâlettin "Celâl" Bayar (16 May 1883 – 22 August 1986) was a Turkish economist and politician who was the third president of Turkey from 1950 to 1960. He previously served as the prime minister of Turkey from 1937 to 1939. Bayar ...

Education and academic life

Nilüfer Bayar received her primary education privately at home. She then attended Maarif Koleji (later TED Ankara College) for her secondary and high school education, graduating in 1939. The same year, she studied further, philosophy at

Istanbul University Istanbul University, also known as University of Istanbul (), is a Public university, public research university located in Istanbul, Turkey. Founded by Mehmed II on May 30, 1453, a day after Fall of Constantinople, the conquest of Constantinop ...

. After one year she enrolled in the School of Language and History – Geography of

Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

due to her family's move to Ankara, and studied

classical philology Classics, also classical studies or Ancient Greek and Roman studies, is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, ''classics'' traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, ...

. Following her graduation, she was appointed assistant in the Department of

Ancient Greek Language Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

in 1949. She worked on the doctoral thesis "

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

' political views", and earned a Doctor of Philology degree in 1954. She was dismissed from the university after the 1960 coup d'état when her father, President

, and her husband Ahmet İhsan Gürsoy, Deputy of

Kütahya Kütahya (; historically, Cotyaeum or Kotyaion; Ancient Greek, Greek: Κοτύαιον) is a city in western Turkey which lies on the Porsuk River, at 969 metres above sea level. It is the seat of Kütahya Province and Kütahya District. In 19 ...

from the Democrat Party, together with many other government officials and politicians, were arrested by the junta, and sent to Yassıada, a small island off the coast of

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 ...

, to put on trials before a Supreme Court of Justice. Her employment was terminated while she was preparing to become an associate professor. She later filed a lawsuit against the university. She did not return to academic life even although she won the case.

Politician career

She started her active political career by joining the 1961-established Justice Party (, AP), a descendant of the Democrat Party, which had been banned after the 1960 coup d'état. She ran for the Justice Party for the Deputy of

Bursa Bursa () 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 Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the industrial centers of the country. Most of ...

in the 1965 general election, and entered the

Grand National Assembly of Turkey The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the Unicameralism, unicameral Turkey, Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by ...

serving in the 13th Parliament until 1969. She did not run in the 1969 general election. She resigned from the AP together with 40 other politicians, and joined the 1970-established Democratic Party (, DP). She served in the party administration. She ran for the DP for the Deputy of

in the 1973 general election. She served in the 15th Parliament until 1977. Gürsoy returned to her initial party AP and she ran in the 1977 general election for the Deputy of Istanbul. The 16th Parliament was ended through the 1980 coup d'état, and all political parties were banned. Thereafter, she withdrew from political life.

Memoir writer

Born during the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

, she witnessed important periods in the history of the Republic such as the Atatürk Period, Inönü Period, the Democrat Party Period and the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

and

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

. She published her memoirs in 2014 regarding the 1960 coup d'état under the title ''27 Mayıs Darbesi ve Bizler, Cumhurbaşkanı Celal Bayar'ın Kızı Anlatıyor'' ("27 May Coup d'état and Us, President Celal Bayar's Daughter Tells"). In 2021, when she was almost 100 years old, her poems and memoirs regarding the early political history of the Republic were published in the book'' İçimin Renkleri'' ("Colors of My Inside").

Personal life and death

Nilüfer Gürsoy was born to Celâl Bayar and Reşide in

on 1 June 1921. She had two brothers, Refii and Turgut. Her father was an associate of Atatürk. She married physician and politician Ahmet İhsan Gürsoy and had three daughters, who all became academics. Gürsoy lived in

Kadıköy Kadıköy () is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district on the Asian side of Istanbul Province, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 25 km2, and its population is 467,919 (2023). It is a large and populous area in the Asian si ...

district of Istanbul. She served as the chairperson of the Celal Bayar Foundation. In 2015, she donated a collection of around 20,000 books, also including her father's, to the Library of History, Literature and Arts of the

municipality in Istanbul. Gürsoy died on 1 July 2024, at the age of 103, the same age that her father

died at. She was buried at Cebeci Asri Cemetery in Ankara.

Books

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gursoy, Nilufer 1921 births 2024 deaths People from Bursa People from Kadıköy 20th-century Turkish women writers TED Ankara College Foundation Schools alumni Istanbul University alumni Ankara University alumni 20th-century philologists 20th-century Turkish women politicians Justice Party (Turkey) politicians Turkish women MPs Deputies of Bursa Members of the 13th Parliament of Turkey Democratic Party (Turkey, 1970) politicians Deputies of Istanbul Members of the 15th Parliament of Turkey Members of the 16th Parliament of Turkey Women memoirists 21st-century Turkish women writers Turkish women centenarians Children of presidents of Turkey Burials at Cebeci Asri Cemetery Turkish women memoirists