Sabiha Gökçen

Sabiha Gökçen (; 22 March 1913 – 22 March 2001) was a Turkish aviator. During her flight career, she flew around 8,000 hours and participated in 32 different military operations. She became the world's first female fighter pilot, at age 23. As an orphan, she was one of the nine children adopted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

She is recognized as the first female combat pilot by '' The Guinness Book of World Records'' and was selected as the only female pilot for the poster of "''The 20 Greatest Aviators in History''" published by the United States Air Force in 1996.. See 9m30s in for 1996 USAF poster claim.

Sabiha Gökçen International Airport, the second airport in Istanbul, is named after her.

Early life

According to official Turkish sources and interviews with Sabiha Gökçen, she was the daughter of Mustafa Izzet Bey and Hayriye Hanım, both of whom were of Bosniak ancestry. During Atatürk's visit to Bursa in 1925, Sabiha, who was only twelve years old, asked for permission to talk with Atatürk and expressed her wish to study at a boarding school. After hearing her story and about her miserable living conditions, Atatürk decided to adopt her and asked her brother for permission to take her to the Çankaya Presidential Residence in Ankara, where Sabiha would live with Atatürk's other adoptive daughters, Zehra, Afet and Rukiye. Gökçen attended the Çankaya Primary School in Ankara and the Üsküdar American Academy in Istanbul.

In February 2004 an article in the newspaper ''Agos'', headlined "The Secret of Sabiha Hatun", contained an interview with Hripsime Sebilciyan, a former resident of Gaziantep, who claimed to be Gökçen's niece and that Gökçen herself was of Armenian ancestry. Sebilciyan claimed that Gökçen's birth name was Hatun Sebilciyan and that she was adopted by Atatürk from an orphanage in Cibin in Urfa Province. Sebilcyan said that Gökçen had four brothers: Sarkis, Boğos, Haçik and Hovhannes, and a sister, Diruhi (Hripsime's mother). According to Turkish-Armenian linguist Pars Tuğlacı, who knew Gökçen personally and deemed Sebilciyan's story to be false, Gökçen was born to an Armenian family from Bursa and was left in an orphanage there when her family was deported during the Armenian genocide. Tuğlacı also claimed that Gökçen later found out about her Armenian roots when members of her family contacted her from Beirut and that she visited her Armenian relatives there.

However, these claims are disputed by Turkish sources and interviews with Gökçen, as well as by her adopted sister Ülkü Adatepe, who reiterated that Gökçen and both of Sabiha's parents were of Bosniak ancestry.

After the introduction of the Surname Law, Atatürk gave her the family name Gökçen on 19 December 1934. 'Gök' means sky in Turkish and Gökçen means 'belonging or relating to the sky'. However, she was not an aviator at that time, and it was only six months later that Sabiha developed a passion for flying.

Career

Atatürk attached great importance to aviation and for that purpose oversaw the foundation of the Turkish Aeronautical Association in 1925. He took Sabiha along with him to the opening ceremony of ''Türkkuşu'' (''Turkish Bird'') ''Flight School'' on 5 May 1935. During the airshow of gliders and parachutists invited from foreign countries, she got very excited. As Atatürk asked her whether she would also want to become a skydiver, she nodded, "yes indeed, I am ready right now". Atatürk instructed Fuat Bulca, the head of the school, to enroll her as the first female trainee. She was meant to become a skydiver, but she was much more interested in flying, so she earned her pilot's licence. Gökçen, together with seven male students, was sent to Crimea, Soviet Union for an advanced course in glider and powered aircraft piloting. However, when she was in Moscow, she learned the news that her sister Zehra had died, and with collapsed morale, she immediately returned to Turkey, isolating herself from social activities for some time.

After a while, at Atatürk's insistence, Gökçen began working again. At Eskişehir Aviation School, she received special flight training from Savmi Uçan and Muhittin Bey. She began flying a motorized aircraft for the first time on February 25, 1936.

Gökçen, due to the success in flight training, Ataturk himself said: "You've made me very happy ... Now I can explain what I have planned for you ... Perhaps you'll be the first woman military pilot in the world ... For the world's first military woman pilot to be of Turkish descent would be a proud event, you can imagine, right? Now I will act immediately and send you to Tayyare School in Eskişehir. You will receive a special education there"''.''

As girls were not being accepted by the Turkish War Academies in those years, Gökçen was provided, on Atatürk's orders, with a personalized uniform, and attended a special education programme of eleven months at the ''Tayyare Mektebi'' (Aviation School) in Eskişehir in the academic year 1936-1937. After receiving her flight patents (diploma) she trained to become a war pilot at the 1st Airplane Regiment in Eskişehir for six months.

She improved her skills by flying bomber and fighter planes at the 1st Aircraft Regiment in EskiÅŸehir Airbase and gained experience after participating in the Aegean and Thrace exercises in 1937. In that same year, she took part in military operations during the Dersim Massacre and became the first Turkish female air force combat pilot. Turkish planes flew numerous sorties against the Dersim people during the military operation. A report of the General Staff mentioned the "serious damage" that had been caused by her 50 kg bomb upon a group of what the Turkish government referred to as rebels. Nuri Dersimi stated that the Turkish air force bombed the district with poisonous gas in 1938 which was later proven correct. In 2011, the Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan apologized for the massacre, describing it as "one of the most tragic events of our near history".

In an interview she gave to Halit Kıvanç in 1956, Sabiha Gökçen stated about the time: "They gave us the order 'Shoot every living thing you see', we were firebombing even the goats which were the food of the rebels". She was awarded with a commendation for her actions during the operation. She was also awarded the Turkish Aeronautical Association's first "''Murassa'' (Jeweled) Medal" for her superior performance in this operation.

In 1938, she carried out a five-day flight around the Balkan countries to great acclaim. In the same year, she was appointed chief trainer of the Türkkuşu Flight School of the Turkish Aeronautical Association, where she served until 1954 as a flight instructor and became a member of the association's executive board. She trained four female aviators: Edibe Subaşı, Yıldız Uçman, Sahavet Karapas and Nezihe Viranyalı. Gökçen flew around the world for a period of 28 years until 1964. Her book entitled ''A Life Along the Path of Atatürk'' was published in 1981 by the Turkish Aeronautical Association to commemorate Atatürk's 100th birthday.

Controversies

The question of Gökçen's ethnic origin made headlines and sparked controversy in 2004, when Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian journalist, published an interview with a person identifying as Gökçen's niece that claimed that Gökçen was of Armenian origin. Many contested the matter, including her adopted sister, Ülkü Adatepe, who stated that Gökçen was of Bosniak ancestry. The notion that Gökçen could have been Armenian caused controversy in the country; the Turkish General Staff released a statement saying that the debate "mocked national values" and was "not conducive to social peace". Hrant Dink, the journalist who wrote the article, came under criticism, most notably from newspaper columnists and Turkish nationalist groups. A leaked US consul dispatch penned by an official from the consulate in Istanbul observed that the entire affair "exposed an ugly streak of racism in Turkish society." It is also believed that the affair was one of the reasons that led to Hrant Dink's assassination in Istanbul in January 2007.

Death and legacy

Gökçen died of heart failure at Gülhane Military Medical Academy on 22 March 2001, her 88th birthday.

Sabiha Gökçen International Airport in Istanbul is named after her. It opened on 8 January 2001, 2 months before her death.

She is recognized as the first female combat pilot by the Guinness Book of World Records.

She was selected as the only female pilot for the poster of "''The 20 Greatest Aviators in History''" published by the United States Air Force in 1996.

That year, she was also honored at the Air Command and Staff College's Gathering of Eagles at Maxwell Air Force Base. The program encourages the study of aviation history by emphasizing the contributions of aviation pioneers.

She was the subject of a Google Doodle honouring her birthday, which was displayed in Turkey on 22 March 2009.

Awards and medals

* Number one Medal of Övünç (Murassa) and certificate of Turkish Aeronautical Association,
* The Badge of the White Eagle, the highest badge given by the Yugoslav Army, and an army badge,
* Romanian Army Aviation Badge,
* Commemorative medals awarded for the Thracian and Aegean maneuvers,
* Pioneer women's plaque in their professions, given at the ceremony in the Turkish Grand National Assembly on the 50th anniversary of Turkish women gaining suffrage and election rights,
* Honorary Doctor of Selcuk University,
* Gold medal awarded by THK in 1989,
* The FAI gold medal, awarded by the International Aviation Federation in 1991 to aviators showing outstanding success in all branches of aviation,
* The title of "one of the 20 aviators who made their mark in world history" at the ceremony at the USA's Maxwell Air Base in 1996,
* 28 plaques given by the army, various associations and organizations.

Gallery

File:Sabiha Gökçen's bust in İstanbul Aviation Museum.jpg, Bust of Sabiha Gökçen at the Istanbul Aviation Museum
File:Atatürk, Ali Çetinkaya and Sabiha Gökçen in Diyarbakır.jpg, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Ali Çetinkaya and Sabiha Gökçen in Diyarbakır
File:Sabiha Gokcen with cap.jpg, Sabiha Gökçen with Turkish and foreign officers
File:Breguet 19 Sabiha.jpg, Sabiha Gökçen poses with her Bréguet 19
File:Sabiha Breguet 19.jpg, Sabiha Gökçen reviews her Bréguet 19

See also

* Bedriye Tahir Gökmen
* Ahmet Ali Çelikten
* List of firsts in aviation

References

;Notes

;References

External links

*
* Atatürk Arşivi - Sabiha Gökçen
Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFNZpeaikxs Part
Part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyiJrVj2vnA Part
Part 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS5yB9FdIzs Part 6]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gokcen, Sabiha
1913 births
2001 deaths
People from Bursa
People from Hüdavendigâr vilayet
Bosniak diaspora
Turkish people of Bosniak descent
Turkish women in warfare
Turkish Air Force personnel
Turkish aviators
Turkish women aviators
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Aviation pioneers
Women aviation pioneers
Üsküdar American Academy alumni
People of the Dersim rebellion
Women in war 1900–1945