Semiha Yıldırım (born 1954) is a Turkish retired teacher. She is the wife of former Turkish prime minister

Binali Yıldırım Binali Yıldırım (; born 20 December 1955) is a Turkish politician who served as the List of Prime Ministers of Turkey, 27th and last prime minister of Turkey from 2016 to 2018 and Speaker of the Grand National Assembly from 2018 to 2019. He w ...

. The "Semiha Yıldırım Primary School" in

Çekmeköy Çekmeköy is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 152 km2, and its population is 296,066 (2022). It is on the Asian side of Istanbul. In 2008 the district Çekmeköy was created from part of the district Ü ...

was built by former school children and commissioned by the Ministry of Education. The school is named in her honor.

Life

Semiha Yıldırım was born in 1954 in Kayıköy of

Refahiye Refahiye is a town in Erzincan Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. It is the seat of Refahiye District.

district in

Erzincan Erzincan (; ), historically Yerznka (), is the capital of Erzincan Province in eastern Turkey. Nearby cities include Erzurum, Sivas, Tunceli, Bingöl, Elazığ, Malatya, Gümüşhane, Bayburt, and Giresun. The city is majority Turkish Sunni w ...

. After finishing her primary and secondary education, she entered the school for teachers training and graduated in 1972. She started teaching at a school in her hometown at

Refahiye Refahiye is a town in Erzincan Province in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. It is the seat of Refahiye District.

district. Until 1993 Yıldırım continued

teaching Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the of an educational institution. Teaching is closely related ...

at various schools across

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. After her retirement, she continued supporting voluntary education projects. A primary school in Istanbul is named after her.

Personal life

She is married to Turkey's 27th Prime Minister

. Together they raised three children: Erkan Yıldırım, Ahmet Yıldırım and Büşra Yıldırım. She is a devout Sunni Muslim, and once she stated: "Islam should conquer everywhere".

Awards

*2012 - "Mother of the Year",

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

Education Volunteers Association

References

Turkish schoolteachers People from Refahiye 1954 births Living people {{Turkey-bio-stub