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 A LIFETİME DEDICATED TO THE REPUBLIC: HASENE ILGAZ WITH HER WORKS, ACTIVITIES AND THOUGHTSCIAL SCIENCES
İSTANBUL, 2023

ABSTRACT
Undoubtedly, the circumstances and the period we are born into shape our biography. Therefore, biographical works do not only tell us the story of a life. They also tell the story of an era. There are such lives lived at turning points in history that tell us a lot about the period beyond being a biography. This thesis focuses on the Turkish female identity idealized by the founding elite of the Republic in the early Republican period through the life of Hasene Ilgaz, who lived in such a period and whose works and activities shed light on the period she lived in.
These women’s identities, shaped by the founding principles and ideals of Republican Turkey, also make it possible to look at recent Turkish history studies from a new perspective. This is because Turkish women are part of the Turkish Modernization experience, which began with the Tanzimat, gained momentum with the Second Constitutional Period, and took on a contemporary character with the Republic. As the lives of these special women of the early Republican period come to light, they will make valuable contributions to our recent history. This thesis aims to make such a contribution to the literature in the case Keywords: Biography, Early Republican Period, Republican Woman, Women Parliamentarians, Philanthropy
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ÖZET
İçine doğduğumuz şartlar ve dönem yaşamöykümüzü şekillendirir şüphesiz. Dolayısıyla biyografik çalışmalar, bize yalnız bir yaşam öyküsünü anlatmakla kalmaz. Aynı zamanda bir dönemin hikayesini de anlatır. Tarihin dönüm noktalarında yaşanan öylesi hayatlar vardır ki bir yaşam öyküsü olmanın ötesinde dönemine dair çok şey söyler bize. Bu tez, böylesi bir dönemde yaşamış, eserleri ve faaliyetleriyle yaşadığı döneme ışık tutan Hasene Ilgaz’ın hayatı üzerinden, erken Cumhuriyet döneminde, Cumhuriyet’in kurucu elitinin idealize ettiği Türk kadın kimliğine odaklanmaktadır.
Cumhuriyet Türkiye’sinin kurucu ilke ve ideallerinin şekillendirdiği bu kadın kimlikleri, aynı zamanda yakın dönem Türk Tarihi çalışmalarına yeni bir perspektifle bakmayı mümkün kılmaktadır. Zira Türk kadınları, Tanzimatla başlayıp, II. Meşrutiyetle ivme kazanan, Cumhuriyet ile çağdaş bir niteliğe bürünen Türk Modernleşme tecrübesinin bir parçasıdır. Erken Cumhuriyet döneminin bu özel kadınlarının hayatları gün yüzüne çıktıkça yakın dönem tarihimize çok değerli katkılar sunacaktır.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Biyografi, Erken Cumhuriyet Dönemi, Cumhuriyet Kadını, Kadın Parlamenterler, Hayırseverlik.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my endless gratitude to my esteemed advisor Dr. Ayşen Müderrisoğlu for her inspiring and guiding contributions to the conduct of this study. I am grateful to her for her moral support, encouragement, and motivation. I would also like to express my special thanks of gratitude to Prof. Dr. Ahmet Taşağıl, Head of the Department of History, who supported me with his confidence at the beginning of my thesis study.
To my dear friend Esra Sert Şahin, whose encouragement and support led to the emergence of this thesis study, to my dear friend Hanife Karasu, who informed me about the unique resources in the Women’s Library and led me to determine my thesis topic, to my dear friend Zehra Dilek for her moral support throughout my thesis study as well as her support in accessing resources, I would like to extend my endless thanks to my dear friends Ayşenur Korkmaz and Bilge Özel, who edited my thesis and shared their opinions and suggestions with me, and to the staff of the Women’s Library and Information Center Foundation, who facilitated me in accessing the main sources of my thesis. I am also grateful to my dear friend Hilal Turan and the officials of the Directorate of Library and Archive Services of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye who helped me access the sources in the Parliament.
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Türk Dili Tetkik Cemiyeti: Turkish Language Research Society
Türk Tarih Kurumu: Turkish Historical Society
Diyanet İşleri: Religious Affairs
Halkevleri: the People’s Houses
Halk Odaları: the People’s Chambers,
Aş Ocağı: Soup Kitchen
Himaye-i Etfal Kadınlar Yardım Cemiyeti: Children’s Protection Society Women’s Aid Society
İslam Kadınlarını Çalıştırma Cemiyet: Society for the Employment of Islamic Women
Müdafaa-i Hukuk-ı Nisvan Cemiyeti: Association for Defence of Rights of Women
Teali-i Nisvan Cemiyeti: Women’s Improvement Association
Cemiyet-i İmdadiye: Association for Aid
Fukaraperver Cemiyeti: Association for Supporting the Poor
Yoksullara Yardım Derneği: Society for Aid to the Poor
Çocuk Esirgeme Kurumu: Child Protection Agency
Sosyal Hizmetler Koordinasyon Kurulu: Social Services Coordination Board
Sosyal Hizmetler Federasyonu: Federation of Social Services
Türkiye Turizm Yazarları ve Gazetecileri Derneği (ATURJET): Turkish Tourism Writers and Journalists Association
Sivil Genel Emekli Derneği: Civilian General Retired Association
Verem Savaş Derneği: Tuberculosis Fight Association
Çocuk Dostları Derneği: Children’s Friends Association
CHP İş Bulma Kurtarma Yurdu: CHP Employment and Rescue Home
Öğretmenler Yardımlaşma Derneği: Teachers’ Solidarity Association
Türkiye İşitme ve Konuşma Rehabilitasyon Vakfı (TİV): Turkish Hearing and Speech Rehabilitation Foundation
Doğayı Koruma Vakfı: Nature Conservation Foundation
Yeşilay Cemiyeti: Green Crescent Society
Türk Donanma Cemiyeti: Turkish Navy Society
Türk Kadınlar Birliği: Turkish Women’s Union
Darülaceze’ye Yardım Derneği: Association of Aid to Darülaceze Türkiye Şehitlikleri İmar Vakfı (TŞİV): Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye Yardım Sevenler Derneği: Charity Association
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Tayyare Cemiyeti: Turkish Aeroplane League
Türk Hava Kurumu: Turkish Aeronautical Association
Türk Hava Kurumu Vakfı: Turkish Aeronautical Association Foundation
Fatih İlçesi Hava Kurumu: Fatih District Aeronautical Association
Huzurevleri Kurma ve Yaşatma Derneği: Association for Establishing and Sustaining the Nursing Homes
İstanbul Huzurevi: Istanbul Nursing Home
Kıbrıs Okullarından Yetişenler Derneği: Association of Cypriot Schools Graduates
Kıbrıs Türk Kültür Derneği: Turkish Cypriot Cultural Association
Okul Aile Birliği: Parents and Teacher Association (PTA)
Yoksul Çocuklara Yardım Derneği: Association for the Help of Poor Children
İlkokul Yoksul Çocuklara Yardım Cemiyeti: Association for the Help of Poor Children in Primary Schools
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PLAGIARISM PAGE ………………………………………………………………..i
ABSTRACT ……………………………….……….………………….…………….ii
ÖZET …..…………………………………………………….……………….……..iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...…………………………………………………….....iv
GLOSSARY………………………………………………………………………......v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………......viii
INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….....1
CHAPTER 1. HASENE ILGAZ’S PRIVATE LIFE AND PROFESSIONAL CAREER FROM BIRTH TO DEATH …………………………….…………5
1.1. Life Story of Hasene Ilgaz ………………………………………………….........5
1.1.1. Her Birth ………………………………………………………...…………..5
1.1.2. Her Family ……………………………………………………………......6
1.1.3. Ilgaz’s Education Life …………………………………………….......…..8
1.1.4. Her Marriage to Sabri Bey ……………………………………………….10
1.1.5 Her Passing ……………………………………………………………….12
1.2. Her Professional Life …………………………………………………………...12
1.2.1. As a Teacher Hasene Ilgaz ………………………………………………...13
1.2.2. Hasene Ilgaz as a Woman Member of Parliament and Her Political Activities ………………………………………………………………..…….17
1.2.3. Her Journalism and Writing …………………………………………......24
CHAPTER 2. HASENE ILGAZ’S SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES…….28
2.1. Social Activities of Ilgaz ………………………………………………………..29
2.1.1. Her Association and Foundation Activities ……………….…………..……31
2.1.1.1. Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye…..………31
2.1.1.2. Istanbul Social Services Federation ……………………………………35
2.1.1.3. Association for the Establishing and Sustaining the Nursing Homes ….38
2.1.1.4. Association of Aid to Darülaceze ……………………..……………….39
2.1.1.5. Turkish Tourism Writers and Journalists Association …………….…..42
2.1.1.6. Child Protection Agency …………………………...………………….45
2.1.1.7. Charity Association ………………………………………………...….47
2.1.1.8. Turkish Women’s Union ………………………………………...….51
2.1.1.9. Turkish Hearing and Speech Rehabilitation Foundation ……………56
2.1.1.10. Turkish Aeroplane League (Tayyare Cemiyeti) ……………..………57
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2.1.1.11 Turkish Navy Society ………………………………...……………....58
2.1.1.12. Turkish Cypriot Cultural Association and Hasene Ilgaz ………….…59
2.1.2. Hasene Ilgaz’s Social Assistance Activities …………...…………..............60
2.1.2.1. Eastern Relief Committee ……………………………..………………61
2.1.2.2. Gönen Earthquake …………………………………...…………….......62
2.1.2.3. Immigrants and Edirne Immigrant Association ………………………..63
2.1.2.4 Assistance to Neighborhoods without a Soup Kitchen …………………64
2.1.3. Other Works Pioneered by Ilgaz ……………………………………………64
2.1.3.1. Dormitories for Male and Female Students ……………………………65
2.1.3.2. Employment and Labor Dormitory ………………………………...….66
2.1.3.3. Aid to State Libraries ………………………………..……….………...66
2.1.3.4. Modernization of Şile Handicrafts …………………………..…...........67
2.2. Her Cultural Activities ………………..…………………………………….......68
2.2.1. the People’s Houses Activities ………………………………......................68
2.2.1.1 Exhibitions of Şehremini People’s House ………………………...……74
2.2.1.1.1 Turkish Historical Society Exhibition ………………………………..74
2.2.1.1.2 Exhibition on behalf of the Aeronautical Association ………………..75
2.2.2. Turkish Language Studies ……………………………………...…………..75
2.2.3. Hasene Ilgaz as an Orator ……...…………………………………………...77
2.2.3.1 Ilgaz’s Addresses from Student Ilgaz to Activist Ilgaz ………………...79
2.2.3.2. Her Speech at TKB on the Day Turkish Women Won the Right to Vote and Be Elected …………………………………………………………….......80
2.2.3.3. Her Speech on Womanhood …………………...………………...........82
2.2.3.4. Assassination of Atatürk, 1935 …………………………………...........83
2.2.3.5. Her Speech at the CHP’s 4th Congress ………………………………..84
2.2.3.6. Montreux Victory, 1936 …………………………...………………..…84
2.2.3.7. Turkish Revolution and Reform ……………………...………………..85
2.2.3.8. Anniversaries of the Founding of the Republic ………………………..85
2.2.3.9. I. and II. Social Services Conference …………...……………………...86
2.2.3.10. Her Speech on behalf of Pensioners on Law No. 1101 ………….……87
2.2.3.11. Teachers’ Day Speech (1981) ………………………………………..88
2.2.3.12. Address to Maçka Technical School Students ……………………….89
CHAPTER 3. ILGAZ’S LEGACY THROUGH HER WORKS AND THOUGHTS ……………………………………………………………………………….90
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3.1. Her Works ……………………………………...…………………………….....90
3.1.1. Her Articles in Periodicals ……………………………...…………………..92
3.1.1.1. Her Tafrikas (Serials) ………………………………...………………100
3.1.2. Her Books …………………………………………………………………103
3.1.2.1 Cyprus Notes, 1949 ……………….……………………………….….103
3.1.2.2. Unforgettable Years, 1970 ………………………………………...…104
3.1.2.3. Istanbul Social Services Coordination Board Activities, 1970 ……....105
3.1.2.4. 100th Anniversary Gift to Atatürk, 1981 ……………………………...106
3.1.2.5. The Ertuğrul Frigate 100th Anniversary Gift, 1990 ………………....107
3.1.2.6. The Story of a Girls’ Boarding School, 1915-1921, 1991 ………........108
3.1.2.7. What I Read, What I Saw, What I Wrote, 1991 ……………………….109
3.1.2.8. Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye, 1986 …..110
3.1.2.9. Booklet of Conferences Given by Members of the Republican People’s Party Istanbul Provincial Women’s Branch …………………........................110
3.1.2.10. Atatürk: From Birth to Death 1962 ………………………..………..111
3.2. Her Thoughts …………………………………………………………………..111
3.2.1. Atatürk’s Revolutions and Ilgaz’s Educational Thought …………..……...111
3.2.2. Women’s Rights and Ilgaz’s Approach to Women’s Rights …………..…..116
3.2.3. Political Views ……………………………………………………………117
CONCLUSION ……...…………………………………………………………….122
REFERENCES ………...…………………………………………………………..126
APPENDIX A ……………………………………………………………………...135
APPENDIX B ………………………………………………………………...…....136
APPENDIX C ……………………………………………………………………...137
APPENDIX D ……………………………………………………………………...138
APPENDIX E ……………………………………………………………………...139
APPENDIX F ……………………………………………………………………...140
APPENDIX G ……………………………………………………………………...141
APPENDIX H ……………………………………………………………………...142
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INTRODUCTION
Every life story is unique. However, every human being bears traces of the era and neighborhood in which he or she lives. However, every human being bears traces of the era and neighborhood in which he or she lives. Especially the lives at the turning points of history tell us many things and offer rich sources that shed light on a period. It is possible to evaluate the social-cultural, socio-economic, and political events of that period and the change and transformation of society through the lives of individuals who left their mark on the period they lived in with their works and activities. It is possible to evaluate the social-cultural, socio-economic, and political events of that period and the change and transformation of society through the lives of individuals who left their mark on the period they lived in with their works and activities. This thesis aims to clarify the female identity shaped by the founding principles and ideals of Republican Turkey and its contribution to the understanding and interpreting of early Republican history through Hasene Ilgaz and her works and private archive. As can be seen from Ilgaz’s life story, the mission that Atatürk’s Turkey assigned to the Turkish woman makes it possible to look at early Republican history from a different perspective. The lives of these rare and special women of Republican Turkey are of undeniable importance in terms of illuminating different aspects of this historical accumulation.
The thesis deals with the life story of Ilgaz, who witnessed the period she lived in with the conditions she was born into and the activities she fit into her long life, which could not be easily granted to anyone. The first chapter of the thesis involves Ilgaz’s private life from her birth until her death. In this chapter, her family, marriage, and education as well as her professional career are touched upon. It is possible to trace the cultural and social codes of the late Ottoman society through Ilgaz’s life. Her family life, education, and marriage are typical examples of this. Ilgaz’s professional career as a teacher, member of parliament, and journalist is noteworthy. Ilgaz started her professional career as a teacher in 1923 and continued as a member of parliament 20 years later. Although it was not a professional career, her longest-lasting profession was journalism. In this chapter, her professional careers, each of which could be the subject of a separate study, are evaluated, and only her prominent activities are mentioned in this context.
The second chapter of the thesis includes Ilgaz’s social and cultural activities. Here, first of all, Ilgaz’s social activities shaped by her environment and the period she
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lived in are examined. As a woman with high social sensitivity, Ilgaz took part in nearly 40 associations and foundations as a founder, president, or member with the desire to serve the society she lived in. In this respect, although Ilgaz’s social activities are worthy of research in their own right, only the activities of the associations that Ilgaz contributed to the establishment are included in this chapter. In this respect, although Ilgaz’s social activities are worthy of research in their own right, only the activities of the associations that Ilgaz contributed to the establishment are included in this chapter. Although she was not a founder, the associations and foundations in which she played an active role or served as president, such as Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye (Türkiye Şehitlikleri İmar Vakfı), are also mentioned. In the context of her social activities, Ilgaz’s prominent individual initiatives are also touched on. These activities, which were carried out under her leadership, are noteworthy in terms of reflecting the diversity and breadth of Ilgaz’s sense of interest and responsibility.
Secondly, this chapter discusses Ilgaz’s cultural activities. Ilgaz organized many cultural activities, especially under the roof of the Şehremini People’s House, to raise public awareness and to adopt Atatürk’s principles and reforms. In addition, Ilgaz herself gave speeches at events organized on various occasions, especially on women’s rights and historical events such as the Proclamation of the Republic, the Peace of Lausanne, and Victory Day. This chapter also includes examples from these cultural activities, reflecting Ilgaz’s views and opinions as a member of the first Republican generation.
The third and final chapter of the thesis is devoted to Ilgaz’s works and opinions. Ilgaz’s writings, both her articles and serials (tafrikas) in periodicals and her books, reflect both her interests and her accumulated knowledge. In this respect, Ilgaz’s productivity and her writings, which touch upon many issues ranging from social issues to historical issues, from economic issues to political issues, and express her opinions and suggestions, also bear traces of the mission she undertook as a woman of the Republic. Again, her opinions in this chapter are handled in a way that reflects the world of thought of a Republican woman who grew up with the cultural codes of a late Ottoman family and a deep-rooted Ottoman neighborhood, Kocamustafapaşa. Ilgaz’s perspective, which was shaped by this background, not only determined her approach to Atatürk’s principles and reforms but also influenced the way she interpreted the
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events she experienced. This is also a feature that differentiates Ilgaz from her contemporaries.
The main source of the thesis is Ilgaz’s works and her private archive donated to the Women’s Library. This is because the thesis primarily aims to focus on Ilgaz and her period based on Ilgaz’s knowledge and experience. This is because the thesis primarily aims to focus on Ilgaz and her period based on Ilgaz’s knowledge and experience. Ilgaz’s testimony and knowledge are valuable because they allow us to understand and interpret the period first-hand. These sources help us understand the early Republican history through Ilgaz’s story and reveal the political, cultural, social, and economic developments of the period. The documents, which are the work of a serious accumulation, are also important in that they contain information that we can only access from this archive. Since there is usually more than one document related to the topics discussed, the archival tags of the documents in question are given in footnotes in order not to disrupt the flow of the text. In addition to this, the TBMM Archive, the Republic Archive, and period newspapers were consulted as primary sources when necessary. For example, within the context of her biography, the TBMM archive was utilized for Ilgaz’s curriculum vitae (hal tercümesi) she submitted to the Parliament. Also, the Republic Archive, which contains the CHP Archive, was used for information on the establishment of the CHP Women’s Branches, and period newspapers were used for information on the death of her husband Sabri Bey. Undoubtedly, in studies that will specifically focus on Ilgaz’s political, social, or cultural activities and journalism, these sources will allow access to rich information that will complement her private archive.
The thesis also makes use of secondary literature. Especially the studies on Ilgaz constitute the secondary literature of the thesis. Interviews with Ilgaz studies on the women of the Republican generation, and publications focusing on recent Turkish political history and women’s history, especially works published by the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, are included to the extent that they are relevant to the subject of the thesis. Interviews with Ilgaz studies on the women of the Republican generation, and publications focusing on recent Turkish political history and women’s history, especially works published by the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, are included to the extent that they are relevant to the subject of the thesis.
As in almost all memoirs, Ilgaz’s narratives and notes contain some wrong information. For example, the rally at which Ilgaz herself gave a speech after the
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assassination attempt against Atatürk, which she included in her books and notes as well as in her interviews, took place not after the assassination attempt in 1926, but after the assassination attempt in 1935. In the thesis, corrections were made by referring to primary and secondary sources in such obvious errors arising from the fact that the memoirs were written or expressed after a certain period. Newspaper clippings from Ilgaz’s archive and a literature review helped us in this regard. However, the main purpose of this thesis is not to bring such errors to light. For this reason, except in very obvious cases such as the example mentioned above, Ilgaz’s life story is based on her notes and works. In this respect, the thesis aims to illuminate the conditions and the period that built Ilgaz as a woman of the Republic through her perspective.
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CHAPTER 1
HASENE ILGAZ’S PRIVATE LIFE AND PROFESSIONAL CAREER FROM BIRTH TO DEATH
1.1. Life Story of Hasene Ilgaz
This section will analyze Ilgaz’s private life from birth to death. Human beings bear the traces of family, environment, and society into which they are born. Ilgaz’s life story is a typical example of this. Ilgaz, who was a child of the Second Constitutional Era and a young woman of the Armistice and Early Republican period, grew up in a society where the difficulties caused by prolonged wars (Balkan Wars, World War I, War of Independence) and the social change and transformation brought about by these wars were implicated in her life. Ilgaz describes this period with the following: “There was war since the day our ears began to hear, and we began to grasp the meaning of words and sentences...What we saw in our childhood and youth is full of events that few generations have experienced and will experience. But besides this, a generation with its traditions and national existence in its soul resisted the overwhelming forces” (Ilgaz, 1970, p. 2, 32). As the daughter of a man who was eager to teach everything he knew and a young woman of the National Struggles years, Ilgaz’s principles, the values she defended, and the struggle she waged for a lifetime as a teacher, a member of parliament, a mother and a citizen shaped in the conditions of the family and society into which she was born. According to a list in Ilgaz’s notes, her duties as a founder, chairman, or member in about 40 NGOs, her dreams, and her work throughout her life indicate this.1
1.1.1. Her Birth
Hasene Ilgaz was born in Kocamustafapaşa on a street named “Fevzi Efendi” near the water balance in Haseki. Her father, Mehmet Fevzi Bey, whom the street was named after was an Ottoman Palace clerk in the reign of Abdul Hamid II. (Ergun, 1997, p.116; Davaz, 2014, p. 433). To honor his diligence in the Palace, Abdul Hamid II ordered that the street be named after Fevzi Efendi (Ergun, 1997, p. 116).2 The street, which continues to exist today as Fevzi Ilgaz Street, seems to have been named after Hasene Ilgaz’s application in 1974. According to a note in Ilgaz’s private archive, Ilgaz
1 Women’s Library and Information Centre Foundation Hasene Ilgaz Private Archive (KEKBMV HIÖA) 10002_046_2747. The records in her private archive on the subject we contacted will be given in the footnotes.
2 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2780.
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requested that one of the streets in the city be named after her father Fevzi Ilgaz. It is understood from the note that the request was evaluated and naming an unnamed street in the Fatih Sancaktar Hayreddin neighborhood as Fevzi Ilgaz Street was approved on 16 August 1974.3
Ilgaz’s date of birth, including her notes, is given as 1902 in some sources and 1904 in others. While Ilgaz recorded her date of birth as 1902 in a handwritten note in her private archive and in the curriculum vitae she submitted to the Parliament when she first entered the Parliament as an MP for Hatay (HT_1230_1_7)4, she wrote it as 1904 in her biography written for publication in her book Unforgettable Years (Unutulmayan Yıllar) and the fourth volume of the Biographical Encyclopedia of the World (Ilgaz, 1970, back cover).5 FIJET (Fédération Internationale des Journalistes et Ecrivains du Tourisme) also gave the date 1904 in its Statutes dated 1971.6 In the works of Ergun, Gökçimen, Binark, Çufalı, Başeğmez, Gümüşoğlu, and Göktürk Çetinkaya among the studies on Ilgaz and in her biography in the TBMM Album, 1902 is given (Ergun; 1997, p. 116; Gökçimen, 2009, p. 218; Binark, 2009, p. 92 and 733; Çufalı, 2012, p. 321; Başeğmez, 2013, p. 76; Gümüşoğlu, 2022, p. 428; Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p. 1; Gümüştekin, 2020, p. 41; Yıldırım and Zeynel (ed.), pp. 396 and 461); Aslı Davaz’s study gives her birth date as 1904 (Davaz, 2014, p. 433). Both dates are given in her biography in the Parliament, which she entered as an MP from Çorum in the 8th term of the assembly, and in Tuğba Gülen’s study (HT_1230_1_8; Gülen, 2016, p. 526).
1.1.2. Her Family
Her father, Mehmet Fevzi, was one of the hulefas of the Babıali Sadaret Mektubi Kalemi (Ilgaz, 1990, back cover; Davaz, 2014, p. 433; Gülen, 2016, p. 526).7 According to the information given by Ilgaz in the notes she kept about her father, “Mehmed Fevzi Bey was the son of Hacı Ali Efendi, who was known as Nakibzade since (1242), one of the legends of the Halveti order in Safranbolu, Velioğlu. His mother’s name was Hafize Hanım. Mehmed Fevzi Bey was born in Safranbolu and died
3 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2406
4 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_006_589
5 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_013_836
6 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_020_1087, p. 6; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_023, p. 6.
7 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2782; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2780.
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in Istanbul on 2 Kanunievvel 1338 (2 December 1922)”.8 He was 63 years old when he passed away.9
Mehmet Fevzi, during the reign of Abdul Hamid II, was recruited to the Bab-ı Ali Sadaret Mektubi Kalemi, through the mediation of the late Okçubaşı Salim Bey, one of the members of the Mevlevi order, who was the Director of the Bab-ı Ali Şifre Kalemi. He gradually worked his way up to the rank of Khulafa and was promoted to the rank of mütemayiz10, and was retired of his own accord.11 Serving 44 years as a civil servant, Mehmet Fevzi Bey was awarded the Mecidi Nişanı (order of the Medjidi) of the third rank by Abdul Hamid II on 3 May 1906 in recognition of his successful work.12 In addition, the street of his house near Haseki Hospital was named after him, and the street became known as Fevzi Efendi Street.13 The identity card of Fevzi Bey, who also received the title of nakip from Bab-ı Ali (the Sublime Port), reads İzzetli Mehmed Fevzi.14 This title was a rank used for civil servants and mutasarrifs. Khulafa (Hulefa), on the other hand, is used for the highest pen chiefs after the general directorates in the Sadaret (Grand Viziership) and Interior Ministry.15
Mehmet Fevzi Bey, who attended the morning classes given at the Hagia Sophia Mosque and received an icazet (ijazat: permission, authorization), also wrote three works. Mehmet Fevzi Bey wrote books titled Tevhid-i Ahkam, İlmi Mantıktan Tercüman-ı Şemsiye, and Taksim-i Hadis-i Şerif.16 Mehmet Fevzi Bey, who took part in the ranks of the Union and Progress after the Second Constitutional Period, ran for the Kastamonu parliamentary seat and sent a letter titled “Ahali-i Muhteremeye Yapacağım Hizmetler (My Services to the Venerable People)” to the people of Kastamonu. Fevzi Bey aimed to find solutions to the problems of the people of Kastamonu such as roads, water, hospitals, courts, and school fees (Gümüşoğlu, 2001, p. 23; Gümüşoğlu, 2022, p. 428).17
8 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2725.
9 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2780
10 One of the top civil ranks used in the Ottoman State Organization after the Tanzimat
11 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2725; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2780
12 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2782.
13 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2780.
14 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2778.
15 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2457.
16 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2725; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2781; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2780.
17 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2780.
8
Ilgaz’s mother Hatice Hanım was a housewife from Kemaliye (HT_1230_1_7; Gümüştekin, 2020, p. 41; Gülen, 2016, p. 526; Davaz, 2014, p. 433). Ilgaz does not give detailed information about her mother except for short memories. She had a brother. Her brother Hikmet Ilgaz was a naval staff major.18 In Ilgaz’s words, Hikmet Ilgaz, an international maritime expert, was a friend of ships and sailors. He had an admirable ability to rescue ships that went down abroad or domestically and to prevent ship accidents (Ilgaz, 1990, p. 3).
1.1.3. Ilgaz’s Education Life
Ilgaz’s education begins in the family hearth with the educative-teaching relationship established with his children by her father, who wants his daughter to be “a great person, a girl with an intelligent mind”. Ilgaz’s first teacher was her father Mehmet Fevzi Bey (Gümüşoğlu, 2001, p.23). Ilgaz summarizes her father’s dreams about her by saying “My father had brilliant ideas. He would say, “You will do them, my daughter” (Ilgaz, 1991a, p. 8). Ilgaz, who was aware of many social and cultural developments thanks to her father’s curiosity and his eagerness to teach his children, describes her father’s eagerness as the following: “We loved to go out on the streets with him, to go sightseeing. He would always show us things we had not seen, tell us about them, and we would tire him out with our endless questions ... not once ... did we hear him tell us to shut up” (Ilgaz, 1970, p. 3). Again, one of Ilgaz’s unforgettable memories is the ceremony organized in 1914 to send off Turkish aircraft with the moon and stars to Egypt. Fevzi Bey read the news in the newspaper and took his children to the ceremony so that they could see and experience this national pride on the spot and gave them information about the airplanes. Thus, Ilgaz and her brother experienced such an important national enthusiasm in person. Shortly after taking off, the airplanes crashed, and the pilots were martyred. Upon this news, Ilgaz, who was only 12 years old, is said to have cried silently for minutes with great sadness (Ilgaz, 1970, p. 4).
Another one of Ilgaz’s unforgettable memories is the ink pen given to her as a gift by her father. According to Ilgaz, her father, who was very fond of his children, came home from work one day with an ink pen in his hand and said that he brought this pen as a gift to his daughter Hasene because she paid attention to her lessons and corrected her writing. Fevzi Bey, who was closely interested in the success of his children, did not neglect to give information about the characteristics of the pen. The
18 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2780.
9
fact that this pen, which was filled with ink as it ran out, was lost without ever being used after she showed it to her friends and the head teacher at Hubyar, her school near Cerrahpaşa, is an injustice that Ilgaz rebelled against even years later. Ilgaz records that she always respected the personal belongings of her students during her time as a teacher with the experience this memory gave her.19
It was her father who instilled in Ilgaz, the manners of traveling and sightseeing. As from she was two years old, he showed her all the places of festivals. Ilgaz traveled through Anatolia and its villages, and in 1948 she went to Cyprus. Syria, Damascus, Aleppo, Hama, and Beirut were among the places she traveled in the Middle East. Her notes on her trip to Syria and Lebanon on 10 May 1951 are available in her private archive.20 In Europe, she traveled to Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Switzerland, Vienna, Romania, the Balkans, Central Europe, Leningrad in Russia, Boston, and New York in the USA (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 58).
Ilgaz learned social solidarity and cooperation from her neighborhoods. According to the information given by Ilgaz, her mother and neighboring women sewed the soldier’s clothes and wrap their bandages that were brought to their door every day with the warning “in a hurry”. These were collected from their homes and taken away by the Red Crescent (Ilgaz, 1970, p. 32). Ilgaz also had her first theatre experience with her mother. Describing the excitement of the whole neighborhood for the theatre play coming to the neighborhood, Ilgaz learned from her mother the etiquette of the theatre and that the name of the high place standing in front of them was the stage. Her mother also told her children not to make noise in the theatre and to be quiet (Ilgaz, 1970, p. 5-6).
According to the traditions of the period, starting a child at primary school at the age of four years and four months reflects another example of social solidarity within the neighborhood culture. Fevzi Bey believes that children who go to school at the age of four years and four months will read well. Following this tradition of the period, Hasene Ilgaz was sent to the Neighborhood School (the Sıbyan School) at the age of four years and four months in line with her father’s belief (Ilgaz, 1970, p. 8). Ilgaz vividly recounts the excitement and preparations of her father and mother, and even the whole neighborhood, to start the Neighborhood School, which is seen as a
19 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2453.
20 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2735.
10
child's first education, and shows that even the tradition of starting the first school involves social solidarity. It is the manifestation of this solidarity that Fevzi Bey, together with his daughter, provided two more girls with the necessities such as pocketbooks, dresses, and shoes so that they could start their education (Ilgaz, 1970, p. 9; Kara & Birinci, 2017, pp. 379-381).
After the neighborhood school, Ilgaz graduated from Kocamustafapaşa Rüştiye and Numune Schools (Ilgaz, 1991b, back cover), and upon her father’s request, she took the exams of the Girls’ Teacher Training School, then known as Darülmuallimat-ı Aliye. Ilgaz was also one of the first graduates of the six-class Inas Numune Schools (Ilgaz, 1991a, p. 6). In July 1915, upon an advertisement that they saw in the newspaper, Ilgaz went with her father Fevzi Bey to the Derviş Pasha Mansion in Çapa and enrolled. A week later, she learned from the newspaper that she had passed the exam she had taken, and so she entered Istanbul, also known as Çapa Girls’ Teacher Training School, where she studied between 1915 and 1921. Ilgaz studied here as a boarding student for five years (Ilgaz, 1991a, pp. 6-8).
After graduating from the Teacher Training School, Ilgaz followed the courses at Istanbul University Faculty of Literature and Revolution for three years (Ilgaz, 1970, back cover; Ilgaz, 1981, back cover; Ilgaz, 1991b, back cover; Davaz, 2014, p. 433; Ergun, 1997, p. 114). In the work she prepared for publication with her brother Hikmet Ilgaz in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Ertuğrul Frigate, she lists the lessons she followed as literature, history, and Recep Peker’s revolutionary lessons (Ilgaz, 1990, back cover).21 According to Ilgaz, she benefited a lot from the history of revolution classes she attended during her teaching at Çapa. These classes gave her oratory skills and the ability to teach the history of revolution classes (Ergun, 1997, p. 114; Gülen, 2016, p. 526).
1.1.4. Her Marriage to Sabri Bey
Ilgaz married Sabri Ilgaz upon her father’s request. In her biography written for the fourth issue of the Biographical Encyclopedia of the World, which publishes the biographies of successful people who have made a name for themselves in their fields in each country, she gives the date of her marriage as 27 August 1921.22 According to the information given by Ergun, she was married in 1920 upon her father’s request.
21 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p.1; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2625; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2564.
22 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_013_836.
11
Halil Çufacı, Cemile Şahin, and Sedef Bulut also give the date of her marriage as 23 June 1920 (Çufacı, 2012, p. 322; Şahin, 2010, p. 80; Bulut, 2018, p. 68). Çufacı also records the birth date of her daughter Perihan as 1921 (Çufacı, 2012, p. 322). Although Ilgaz did not want to, Fevzi Bey, who was worried that his daughter would be alone due to the prolonged wars and social turmoil, was married off an arranged marriage with the mediation of his relatives her. Ilgaz’s husband, Sabri Bey, was, as she described him, “an understanding, decent, ingenuous, hardworking person”. Sabri Bey, a graduate of Bab-ı Ali (the Sublime Port), who worked as a civil servant at the Ministry of Transport, was a painter (Ergun, 1997, p. 114; Çufalı, 2012, p. 322; Gülen, 2016, p. 526).23
In the memoirs of journalist Cemaleddin Saraçoğlu about her husband, it was stated that he was a nationalist and attentive to racial issues, and his painting skills were praised. According to the information given by Saraçoğlu, Sabri Ilgaz drew a picture of the Utarit ship around 1905-1906, when he was still a second-grade student at the high school. Saraçoğlu, who hung this rare work on his wall, said that Sabri Ilgaz had many times drawn the moon and star with chalk on the pictures of Greek navy ships. They had painted the coat of arms on the Greek embassy together one night. Sabri Ilgaz, who was there when Thessaloniki was occupied, had taken a 12-volume French military book from the military library to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Greeks and had given it to him. Hasene Ilgaz wrote down these anecdotes as a souvenir of his grandfather for her grandson Türkcan.24
Ilgaz had a daughter from her marriage to Sabri Bey (Ergun, 1997, p. 116, Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p. 4; Gökçimen, 2009, p. 218; Çufacı, 2012, p. 322; Yıldırım and Zeynel (ed.) 2010, pp. 396, 461).25 Her daughter Perihan (Arıtan), who was a teacher like her and the wife of Fikret Arıtan, a reserve military doctor, was only 23 years old when she died of tuberculosis on 15 September 1945.26 Ilgaz, whose world was devastated by this painful death, which was also reflected in the press of the period, promised herself that “if life is to continue, I must try to make it more meaningful” (Ergun, 1997, p. 116). The Tuberculosis hospital she built in Çorum as a deputy of Çorum was perhaps the work of this memory. When her daughter passed away, she left
23 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1407; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1408.
24 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2559.
25 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_013_836; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2637.
26 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1407; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1408; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1409; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1410.
12
behind a two-year-old son.27 According to the information given by Göktürk Çetinkaya, her grandson Osman Türkcan Arıtan, who grew up next to Ilgaz, followed in his grandmother’s footsteps and became a member of Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye (Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p. 4).
Ilgaz, who suffered great pain in her nearly century-long life, lost her mother Hatice on 16 August 194928 and her husband Sabri, who had two strokes during his 32-year illness, on 27 April 1958 (Milliyet, 27 April 1958, p.5; Çufalı, 2012, p. 322; Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p. 4).29 After the death of her husband, Hasene Ilgaz donated all his works to the Maritime Museum (Ergun, 1997, p. 114).30 The death of her mother coincided with the visit of Cypriot teachers to Turkey, and the delegation, which arrived in Istanbul on 17 August 1949, attended the funeral prayer of Ilgaz's mother at the Kocamustafapaşa Mosque (Hür Söz, August 27, 1949, p. 1-2). Since Ilgaz stated that her brother, Naval Staff Major Hikmet Fevzi Ilgaz, was also unable to see the 100th anniversary of the Ertuğrul Frigate, Hikmet Ilgaz must have passed away before 1990 (Ilgaz, 1990, p. 3).
1.1.5 Her Passing
When Ilgaz passed away on 3 May 2000 (Gökçimen, 2009, p. 218), she left many works as a teacher, writer, journalist, administrator, deputy, and orator. In 1990, she donated her private archive consisting of notes, notebooks, letters, magazine and newspaper clippings, and many other documents to the Women’s Library (Davaz, 2014, p. 433; Arat, 2000, p. 39; Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p. 4), and all issues of the Kadın Newspaper to the Beyazıt State Library (Ilgaz, 1981, p 223; Davaz, 2014, p. 433).31 She donated Çorum Newspapers to the Kariye National Library (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 222), the records of her interviews with those who supported the National Struggle between 1938 and 1943 to Turkish Historical Association in 1966 and some of them on 22 November 1968.32
1.2. Her Professional Life
Ilgaz’s professional career can be analyzed in two complementary stages. Ilgaz started her professional career as a teacher and continued as a deputy between 1943-
27 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2637.
28 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_262.
29 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2637.
30 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2752.
31 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2623.
32 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1851; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2748, p.1.
13
1950. On the other hand, in addition to these two professional careers, Ilgaz’s contributions to journalism are also worth mentioning, considering her writings in various newspapers and magazines and the newspapers such as Çorum Newspaper, which she contributed to its publication.
1.2.1. As a Teacher Hasene Ilgaz
With the encouragement of her father Fevzi Bey, Ilgaz graduated from the Istanbul Girls’ Teacher Training School in 1921, which she started in 1915 after passing the exam, and started teaching in 1923 at the Emine Hatun Primary School in Galata with the registration number 21 (Ilgaz, 1991a, p.30).33 Ilgaz tells her memory of her appointment as follows: “The year was 1923, the Republic had just been proclaimed. I had graduated from Teacher Training School but had not yet been appointed to a school. The First World War was over, the country was devastated and poor. Atatürk was endeavoring to build a new Turkey. In this interval, they searched and found those who had graduated from their schools but had not yet been appointed, and I was appointed with the registration number 21”.34 Ilgaz was first assigned to a school in Kasımpaşa, but since this school was far from her residence, she was assigned to Emine Hatun School in Galata through her father’s friends. Ilgaz worked here for 3 months and after the summer holidays, she was assigned to the “Prusto Women’s School”, which was closer to her residence address. Afterward, she worked as a teacher and head teacher in “Hekimoğlu Ali Paşa 51st, Topkapı 34th, and Kocamustafapaşa 28th schools, respectively for 20 years”.35
Gümüştekin, Gökçimen, and Çufacı mention Ilgaz’s teaching career from 1923 until 1943 when she became Hatay Deputy and entered the Parliament. They write that she worked as a teacher and head teacher in Beyoğlu 11th, Istanbul 21st, 24th, 51st, and 28th schools (Gümüştekin, 2020, p. 176; Gökçimen, 2009, p. 218; Çufacı, 2012, p. 321). In the TBMM Album, her teaching career is given as Istanbul Emine Hatun Girls’ School and Istanbul Presto Women’s School Teacher, Istanbul Fatih 21, 24, 51 and 28th Primary Schools Head Teacher (Yıldırım and Zeynel (ed.), 2010, pp. 396 and 461). Davaz, on the other hand, lists the schools she taught at as “Primary School with the
33 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2564; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2599; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594.
34 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2289, p. 5.
35 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2564.
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registration number 21, Silivrikapı Prusto Kadın Primary School, Topkapı Schools 50, 51 and 34th, Ali Paşa School 24th and Çapa Primary School” (Davaz, 2014, p. 433).
Ilgaz’s teaching life can be evaluated through the value she attributes to teaching. According to Ilgaz, who devoted her life to raising the youth of the Republic, transferring Atatürk’s revolutions and the ideals of Republican Turkey to new generations, teaching is “the art of rising above all interests”, whether material or spiritual, to “see the suns of the future”. “It is the duty of teachers to give direction to a young generation, to try to help children take their place in society, to instill in them the roots of culture, to deepen them”. According to Ilgaz, who emphasized the importance of the social upbringing given to every child who leaves the embrace of his or her family and starts school, teaching is “the only profession that carries social responsibility on its shoulders” (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 52-53).36 In this respect, for Ilgaz, teaching was a great social service that cannot be measured by any other profession. With this belief and motive, Ilgaz not only taught in the schools where she worked but also looked after children in need. For example, Ilgaz, who was transferred from Galata to Prusto Kadın Primary School in Silivrikapı upon her request, contacted the Red Crescent for food aid for a needy child at the school. Since the Red Crescent did not have sufficient income at the time, she was suggested to organize a ball, the proceeds of which would be spent on the needy. Ilgaz, as the chairman of the committee, sold invitations for five liras for this event and organized a successful program. Following this initiative, monthly food ration cards were given to children for five kuruş a month (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 180).37
Noting that there were 430 primary schools and 71436 students attending these schools in Istanbul in 1937, Ilgaz contacted Governor Kırdar and relevant institutions to meet the needs of 15 thousand of students in need and took initiatives to meet the clothing and food needs of the children.38 At the same time, they distributed the income from the donations made to schools by rich and middle-income families to the schools that needed help the most. Ilgaz says this initiative led them to establish the “Association for Aid to Poor Children”. Under the umbrella of the association, 174 schools were contacted, 20 thousand members were recruited to the association with
36 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2431.
37 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2289, pp. 5-6; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_157; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_017_985.
38 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2527.
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the contributions of the schools’ patronage societies, 55195 liras were collected from these members, and approximately 11,000 children were helped (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 156).39 During the Second World War, we see Ilgaz organizing clothing aids for boys and girls in schools and providing girls with the necessities they needed for their education, such as sewing machines.40 When Ilgaz went to Ankara as a member of parliament, she was appointed as the second president of Child Protection Agency, and her interest in and assistance to the needs of children continued (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 163-164).41
Another mission of the teaching profession finds expression in its pioneering role in enlightening and educating society. Ilgaz worked with great devotion in the Public Classrooms established within the scope of the literacy campaign, especially after the Alphabet Revolution in 1928. As a matter of fact, upon adopting Latin letters, Ilgaz started to give lessons to the public in night courses to teach the new letters, which they learned within 15 days, to the public within the framework of education mobilization. Ilgaz says that all segments of society, young and old, men and women, participated in these courses.42 Ilgaz was honored with an outstanding service award by the International Federation of Lions Clubs for being one of the first teachers to teach the Latin alphabet.43 The Turkish Women’s Union also presented her with a certificate of gratitude on behalf of the students she trained and the women she brought into society.44 Ilgaz was also invited to programs organized in schools in the early 80s to introduce “Atatürk’s first teachers” to the new generations of the period and to share their knowledge within the framework of Teachers’ Day45 programs, which were first celebrated in 1981. The invitation from the Beyoğlu - Kasımpaşa Cezayirli Gazi Hasanpaşa Primary School is just one of them.46
Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) are one of the activities that Ilgaz attached importance to in her teaching career and made efforts in their formation. According to Ilgaz, contact with families is one of the steps that should be taken for both the success of students and the smooth running of education. Ilgaz argues that the first step of school-family associations was taken with the reading mobilization initiated after the
39 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2429; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_017_985.
40 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2289, pp.1-3; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040,2301, p. 7; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2307; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2489.
41 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2513; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2353.
42 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2593.
43 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2786, p. 2.
44 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_047_2882.
45 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1727; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_134.
46 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_021_1159.
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adoption of the Latin alphabet, and within the framework of this mobilization, she says that in addition to social education classes for families and young people, parents were also given child education classes.47 Ilgaz, who assumed a pioneering role in the formation of parent-teacher associations established to educate parents and improve school-parent relations, started this experience with 200 teachers in the Fatih district, which expanded to cover all cities (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 155).
The program prepared by Ilgaz and her colleagues, who were responsible for the programming and organization of this initiative, which came to the agenda in 1930-1931, when there were no social or cultural activities in schools and the importance of school-family cooperation was not yet known, included pre-school and school children and school-family cooperation, and envisaged educating families through various seminars and conferences for the success of children.48 Ilgaz handed over this work, which she had undertaken with Nurettin Atasayar, the inspector of teachers in the Fatih district, and 200 of her fellow teachers, to Atasayar after she was elected as a member of parliament (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 156), and after she went to Ankara as a member of parliament, she became, upon request, the president of the Bahçelievler Primary and Secondary School Parents’ Association in Bahçelievler, where she lived (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 160).49 Judging from a program organized by Ilgaz at the school on 7 December 1951, it is seen that Ilgaz continued to serve in this capacity for some time after becoming a parliament member.50 Another noteworthy contribution of Ilgaz during this period was that on 15 June 1947, upon the request of the Minister of National Education, she took part in the publication of the bulletin of the Parent-Teacher Association, which she had founded and spent many years working for. The PTA Bulletin, published by the Ministry with Ilgaz’s help, was issued four times a year to support the work of the PTAs, to ensure that the PTAs communicated with each other and that children were raised in the best way possible (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 86).51
In summary, when we look at her teaching life, which she considered a stepping stone52 for her political life, Ilgaz, who received many certificates of appreciation, thanks, and success in her profession, was, in her own words, “excited, sincere and
47 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 9.
48 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1858.
49 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, pp15-17.
50 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2673.
51 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2346; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1901.
52 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2564.
17
hardworking in her professional life. She never missed a day or even an hour of her duty”.53 Ilgaz not only teach her students but also taught them how to study, to be clean, to help their friends, to get along well with them, and to respect and love their elders.54 As a successful and sensitive teacher, Ilgaz’s outstanding efforts were appreciated by Istanbul Culture Directorate Inspection Chief (İstanbul Kültür Direktörlüğü Teftiş Şefliği), and a letter of congratulations was sent to her on 8 June 1937 for her success in the 1935-1936 academic year.55 Ilgaz noted in this letter, which she copied in her handwriting, that she was awarded a commendation every year until 1943.56 Although Ilgaz’s teaching career officially came to an end with her entrance into the Parliament, teaching continued for Ilgaz for a lifetime. Ilgaz’s educational activities for the workers and their families who migrated to Istanbul, which she stated that they carried out with the cooperation of 10 associations and their means for 15 years, are also noteworthy in terms of showing the value and importance she attached to education (Ilgaz, 1982, p. 7).57
1.2.2. Hasene Ilgaz as a Woman Member of Parliament and Her Political Activities
In an interview she gave to Banoğlu, Ilgaz stated that her activities in political life began with the foundation of the Republic. During the years of one-party rule from 1923 to 1945, Ilgaz, who gave conferences on various occasions, presented papers on women’s rights and made speeches at rallies while continuing her beloved teaching career took part in the CHP’s “hearth, parish, district, provincial cadres, Party Executive Board, the People’s Houses, and Municipal Assembly” (Banoğlu, 1991, p. 5; Çufacı, 2012, p. 321; Gökçimen, 2009, pp. 218-219).58 With the experience she accumulated in the aforementioned channels for years, she “rose from the lower levels of the party in every branch of grassroots politics” and “after six years of perseverance” (Banoğlu, 1991, p. 5; Ilgaz, 1991a, p. 31), she “entered politics to make her social projects permanent” (Davaz, 2014, p. 434).59 This background before becoming a member of parliament is consistent with the values Ilgaz believed in. According to Ilgaz, it is
53 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2564.
54 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2542.
55 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2080.
56 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2070.
57 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1045.
58 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2404; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1767.
59 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2404; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1767.
18
important for political aspirants, male or female, to grow up from the grassroots and gain experience by taking part in party organizations and organs. “Politics requires continuity and struggle”. In this context, Ilgaz argued that not only working and professional women but also housewives could become deputies based on their political experience, and expressed the need for women to make themselves accepted in politics with their “intellect and knowledge” (Banoğlu, 1991, p. 5).
Considering the CHP as a “political, cultural and social school”,60 Ilgaz’s first political experience, leaving aside the social and cultural activities she participated in within the Party organization, began in 1938 as a member of the CHP Istanbul Provincial Executive Board. Ilgaz continued to serve in this position until she entered the Parliament in 1943 as Hatay Deputy (Erdem, 2020, pp. 37-41).61 Ilgaz, who also worked in the CHP’s central office and publication bureau62, also participated in the Party’s congresses during this period. She also contributed to the Party’s electoral activities both as a second voter and through her work in election preparations and as a poll watcher (sandık gözetmeni)63 (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 33 and p. 69).64 As we will briefly discuss below, Ilgaz’s political adventure, which was crowned with her parliamentary seats in Hatay in 1943 and Çorum in 1946, continued in 1950 and afterward with her duties in the Party’s Women’s Branches and Party Assembly.
While she was the head teacher at Fatih Kocamustafapaşa School, Ilgaz served in the Parliament for two terms as the 7th term Hatay Deputy in 194365 and 8th term Çorum Deputy in 1946 (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 87; Çufacı, 2012, p. 321; Gümüşoğlu, 2001, p. 31; Gümüşoğlu, 2022, p. 441; Davaz, 2014, p. 434; Yıldırım & Zeynel, 2010, pp. 396 and 461).66 For Ilgaz, being a member of parliament, which she described with the words “there is no sweeter profession in the world”, offered her the opportunity to “freely defend any issue she wanted from the rostrum”, to intervene in wrongdoing, to propose laws, and to voice “the troubles of the people as one of the people, as a representative of the people” (Gümüşoğlu, 2001, pp. 20-21). In this context, Ilgaz, who reached the position of deputy by passing through party levels in every branch of politics, did not
60 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1027, p. 1.
61 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_013_898; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2495.
62 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_084.
63 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2122; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1601.
64 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2522; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2656; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1369.
65 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2495; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2404; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1767; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2610.
66 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2441; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1767.
19
find it right to discriminate between regions or cities in political activities, which she saw as a means of serving society. According to her, “service is service everywhere” (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 63), and one can work “anywhere in the country, no matter which region it is” (Banoğlu, 1991, p. 5).67 She traveled from village to village and district to district during her parliamentary term, identifying the deficiencies not only in the cities she was a deputy but also in all the cities68 that requested help from her and took the initiative to meet their needs. Closely interested in the social, cultural, and economic characteristics and needs of the cities she represented as a deputy, Ilgaz endeavored to implement measures that would enable the social welfare and economic development of these cities (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 48-55; pp. 68-69 and pp.101-102). Carrying the demands of these cities and their people to the Parliament, Ilgaz contacted the relevant ministries and mediated the solution of the problems. For example, Ilgaz contacted the Ministry of Public Works for the repair of broken roads and bridges in Çorum, and contacted the Ministry of Health for the repair of the parts of Çorum Hospital in need of repair and the need for personnel (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 111; p. 174, Alaca, 2019, p. 188).69 Her endeavor for Çorum to have a Tuberculosis Hospital is also interesting in terms of reflecting her sensitivity towards society and the necessity of the conditions she lived in.70
However, when we look at Ilgaz’s activities during her parliamentary term, it is as if her educator aspect colored her parliamentary term as well. With her experience as a teacher and orator, Ilgaz made speeches for the education of the people in villages and towns and ensured that children were not deprived of education by opening schools in villages without schools (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 63-113; Gümüşoğlu, 2001, pp. 31-32; Ergun, 1997, pp. 115-116).71 Her efforts to help the people of Hatay, which had been under the French mandate for a period within the borders of Syria, learn to read and write Turkish is worth mentioning (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 52). Her efforts especially in the field of education are expressed in the letter sent to her by Halil Turgut, the director of
67 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2531.
68 For example, Ilgaz wrote on page 174 of her work titled 100th Anniversary Gift to Atatürk (Atatürk’e 100. Yıl Armağanı) that she provided a generator for the Kemalites (Kemaliyeliler) who requested help from her, and that she also intervened for the repair of the railway road from the railway station to the district.
69 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_022_1233; KEKEBMV HIÖA 10002_001_044; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_056; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2566; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_036
70 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 24-25; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_017_980; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2373; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_418; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2773.
71 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2435; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2480.
20
National Education.72 In this context, another striking characteristic of Ilgaz is that, as a person with high social sensitivity, she endeavored to produce policies that encompassed, cared for, and protected all elements of society, including villages and villagers, children, youth, the elderly, women, pensioners, teachers and workers. Improving the conditions of prisons and their inmates (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 192-198)73, the housing and slum problem of low-income families (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 45 and 59-60)74 were among the issues that Ilgaz was interested in even after she became a deputy.
Ilgaz served in the Transportation and Parliamentary Library Commissions during her term as Hatay Deputy and in the National Education Commission during her term as Çorum Deputy (Gökçimen, 2009, p. 219; Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p. 1; Binark, 2009, p. 942, 952, 957, 962 and 973; İçke, 2014, p. 102 & 107; Ilgaz, 1981, p. 76), also served in the temporary commissions formed within the scope of law proposals and drafts and in the research commissions of various ministries (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 77, 79, 87).75 She was the only female member of the labor commission and participated in Karabük and Zonguldak trips, which were among the trips made by the commission members to industrial regions and submitted her opinions and suggestions to the Ministry as a report (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 199-204).76 Her contribution to the establishment of the National Library in 1946, while she was in the National Education Commission, is also noteworthy (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 76).77 Ilgaz, who also participated in the discussions on the draft law on “Children in Need of Protection” while she was in this commission, argued that although institutions such as Darüleytam (orphanage) offered shelter and education to children, they would also carry the negative traces of being raised in these institutions throughout their lives and that solutions should be produced that would allow these children to be raised in foster families (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 79, 100).78
72 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1870.
73 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_034_1965; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2467; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_017_977; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1894; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1899; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1579; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_022_1237, KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_050; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2637.
74 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1896; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1625; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_279; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1019. KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2674.
75 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2513.
76 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 21-23; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2449; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_312; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1582; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1584; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1588; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1670
77 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2623; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_037_2157.
78 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2632
21
In the Parliament under the cabinets of Şükrü Saraçoğlu, Recep Peker, Hasan Saka, and Şemsettin Günaltay, Ilgaz spoke 6 times in the first term (8 March 1943 - 5 August 1946) and 33 times in the second term (5 August 1946- 22 May 1950) within the framework of discussions on drafts and proposals (Gökçimen, 2019, 220). In total, she expressed her opinions, wishes, and suggestions from the rostrum of the Parliament 8 times in the first term and 36 times in the second term (Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p. 107), including the budget discussions of various Ministries and her speech about the athletes who succeeded in the European Free Wrestling competition (Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, vii-x). According to the information provided by Alacı, Ilgaz took the floor forty times and shared her thoughts forty times on 36 issues during her tenure as Çorum MP (Alacı, 2019, p. 186).
Ilgaz also proposed draft laws on various issues during her two terms in the TBMM. Some of these drafts were co-signed and some of them belonged to Ilgaz herself (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 61-62; Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 74-86; Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p. 2; Alacı, 2019, pp. 186-187).79 Ilgaz took part as a spokesperson and interviewer in the aforementioned law proposals and drafts brought to the agenda of the Parliament (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 77-78), “Forgiveness of the construction debts incurred by villagers who were held liable for the construction of village schools, midwives' and teachers’ houses” (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 77-78), “Uninterrupted payment of one-off bonuses to the orphans of those whose length of service was not suitable for the granting of a pension (1947)” (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 74; Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p. 81)80, “Granting loan seeds to needy farmers (1948) (Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p. 64)”, “Nurses and Caregivers (1949)” (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 81-82; Alacı, 2019, p. 186-187)81 are the proposals that Ilgaz said she carried directly to the Parliament. “The law on the construction of village schools (1950)” was brought to the Parliament jointly with two of her friends (Ilgaz, 1981, p.
79 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 13-14; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2614; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2531; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2407; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_020_1062; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_038_2190; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1580; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1054; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1693; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1051; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1056; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1766; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1769; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_012_785.
80 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1693; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1054; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_021_1174
81 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1018; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1051; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1052; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1056; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1766; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1769; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_022_1199; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1891; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1892; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2573.
22
77; Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p. 48).82 Ilgaz took part as the spokesperson of the law during the negotiations on the law on “the inclusion of those who retired from the special administration into the public budget” (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 75).83 Ilgaz also contributed to the proposals brought to the Parliament for the elimination of income tax on pensioners (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 61; Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, pp. 104-106), the protection of orphaned, abandoned, and abnormal children (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 79; Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, pp. 91)84, and the giving of worn-out clothes in the army to the poor instead of burning them (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 85; Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p. 108).
Finally, if we look at another one of Ilgaz’s most original works, her visit to Cyprus and the activities she carried out about Cyprus afterward, Ilgaz’s Cyprus case begins with her first visit to the island on 20 July 1948. During this visit with her friend İffet Halim Oruz and a group of teachers, Ilgaz closely observed the situation of the Turkish Cypriots. Çorum Deputy Ilgaz, who was also an honorary member of the Association of Cypriot Schools Graduates (Kıbrıs Okullarından Yetişenler Derneği), took part in the delegation of 3 people who visited İsmet İnönü after the travel program organized under the leadership of the Association. Ilgaz, who was also a member of the delegation that prepared a report containing observations and suggestions on the educational, cultural, and economic situation on the island, met with the Prime Minister and Minister of National Education upon the directive of İnönü. Ilgaz, who closely witnessed the oppression of the Turks by the Greeks during her visit to Cyprus, followed the Cyprus case until the end of her life (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 116-117; Balyemez, 2020, p. 40; Alacı, 2019, p. 187; Çapa, 2020, pp.210-211; Köse, 2006, p. 37).85 Ilgaz also ensured the establishment of a Cyprus bureau in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 120). Cypriots were not indifferent to this interest, which can be considered as a separate subject of study, and as a debt of loyalty and gratitude to Ilgaz, they named a street in Nicosia (Lefkoşe) after Hasene Ilgaz (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 118; Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 61). According to the letter sent to Ilgaz from Fazıl Küçük, the name “Hasene Ilgaz”, which was given to a newly opened road in the last months of 1949 as a thank you for what she had done for Cypriots, was remembered by Cypriots as a source of
82 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2407; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_012_785.
83 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_020_1062; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2531; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_038_2190; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1580. According to the information provided by Ilgaz, 15544 teachers were affiliated with the Ministry of National Education with this law.
84 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_020_1060.
85 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1904; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 28-29
23
pride even years later.86 On 14 May 1950, Ilgaz, who failed to enter the Parliament in the general elections, said that she delivered the Cyprus file she had been working on since 1948 to Adnan Menderes and that she showed him what had been done and what was to be done (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 149-150).
Although Ilgaz was a candidate from Çorum in the 1950 elections, she could not enter the Parliament due to the victory of the Democratic Party (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 68, p. 70-71; Son Posta, 23 April 1950, p. 7).87 However, Ilgaz, who continued her political and social activities within the CHP after her membership in the parliament, took part in the Party’s women’s branches,88 in the Party Assembly between 1964 and 1966,89 and in the Party congresses.90 This situation of Ilgaz is fully expressed in her words: “We were not elected, we did not change parties, we did not resent anyone, we did not sulk. We accepted these as an act of democracy, we worked, and we are still working” (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 71; Alacı, 2019, p. 188). As far as we can determine, after the formation of the CHP Women’s Branches, which first came to the agenda in 1947 (BCA, CHP Archive, 490.1.0.0 / 220 869 1, 1947, p. 67) and started to be organized in 1949 (BCA, CHP Archive, 490.1.0.0 / 9 46 15, 1949), we see that Ilgaz contributed to active politics in the Party’s Women’s Branches both as chairperson and member.91 According to the documents in her archive, Ilgaz was active in the Istanbul Provincial Women’s Branch, of which she was also the president between 1962 and 1964, especially during the 1960 Revolution and its aftermath. According to her information, she was among the speakers at the Constitutional Rally held in Taksim on 3 July 1961 within the framework of the new constitution studies after the revolution.92 She also contributed to the book publishing of the conferences organized by the CHP Istanbul Provincial Women’s Branch within this framework as the chair of the women's branch.93
86 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_013_854; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1810, p. 3.
87 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1405.
88 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_265; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_247; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1027
89 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2508; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1660; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_034_1988; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2130; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_020_1058.
90 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1602; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1605; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2111
91 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_020; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_190; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1019; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1021; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1024; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1025; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1026; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1027; kEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028;1602; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2061; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2069; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_265; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1814; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_034_1965; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_*11_749.
92 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1901.
93 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1679.
24
One of Ilgaz’s characteristics that marked her parliamentary career was her critical approach. Ilgaz, who adopted the motto of saying “good for good, bad for bad” whether from within or outside the Party, openly expressed this when she did not find the actions of the Party or the government correct (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 107). Ilgaz, who also attached importance to being constructive and guiding in her criticisms, evaluated the Menderes period, which ended with the 1960 coup, in an election speech she made in Kadıköy district, and stated that this sad outcome happened because those around Menderes ignored the truth and did not say “wrong is wrong” (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 150-151). She also showed her reaction to her friends who criticized her meeting with Menderes to congratulate Adnan Menderes who won the elections in 1950 and to ask for his help on some issues. She expressed in harsh language that she could meet with any person in any situation that would benefit the country, and that she would continue to say right things were right and wrong things were wrong to prevent society and future generations from being harmed (Ilgaz, 1981, p.151). Again, evaluating the government programs in the Parliament, Ilgaz pointed out that the incoming government did not continue the beneficial works started by the previous government and pointed out the importance of the incoming government to improve and continue them (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 86). Speaking at the 14th CHP Congress, Ilgaz criticized the congress report for not giving enough space to the work of the Women’s and Youth branches and for not addressing the issue of the development of the Eastern cities (Tuğluoğlu, 2017, p. 291). Ilgaz also opposed partisanship, no matter who did it, because it harmed the interests of the country and society (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 113, p. 138, p. 153).
1.2.3. Her Journalism and Writing
Ilgaz’s journalism and authorship are based on her desire and excitement to share her beliefs, principles, interests, knowledge, and experience with the public, enlighten society, and educate and train young generations rather than a professional career. In her own words, Ilgaz began her authorship career by “writing educational and environmental news for some morning newspapers while she was still in teacher training school”.94 Ilgaz also said that her teachers read her writings.95 Hasene Ilgaz, who wrote articles and serials covering all social classes and issues of the society in the newspapers Ulus, Cumhuriyet, Yeni İstanbul, Vakit, Kadın, and local newspapers such
94 There are no documents related to these writings in the archive of the Women’s Library and Information Centre Foundation.
95 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2660, p. 2.
25
as Akgün (Giresun), Çorum, Hür Söz, Safranbolu, Adana, Hatay, Halkın Sesi, Tavşanlı Postası, she also had the opportunity to share the values and ideas she believed in through her articles in the magazines Türk Çocukları, Yeşilada, Ayşe, Yeşilay ve Çocuk, Donanma, Eflatun, Yeni Yaşantı, Yeni Defne, Yeni Adam, Ana, Bakış, Tarih ve Edebiyat, Türk Folklor Araştırmaları. (Ilgaz, 1970, back cover; Ilgaz 1981, p. 246).96
According to her application to the Prime Ministry Press and Publications Directorate on 18 November 1970 to obtain a Press Honour Card, Ilgaz started writing for newspapers in 1933.97 However, the first newspaper article we can find in Ilgaz’s archive was published in Akgün Newspaper in 1935.98 She wrote about her observations on Hatay under the title of “Journey Notes” in Yeni Hatay Magazine while she was a deputy of Hatay.99 She also undertook the editor-in-chief of the weekly Çorum Newspaper while she was a deputy of Çorum and wrote editorials in this newspaper since August 1946 (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 222).100 Again in these years, we read the articles written by Ilgaz in Safranbolu and Kadın Newspaper. Especially “Cyprus Notes (Kıbrıs Notları)”, which was published in Kadın Newspaper, is noteworthy both in terms of the period it was published and the voice it brought. This series of articles, which resonated in the local press of Cyprus, was also published as a book. During her second visit to Cyprus in 1950, Ilgaz also published her observations and detections on the Cyprus Forests in Yeşil Orman Magazine (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 117). Another article by Ilgaz on the history of Cyprus was published in the columns of Yeni Adam Magazine in June 1976.101 Published on 10 November 1948 in Halkın Sesi Newspaper, her article titled “Atatürk’s Longing” is also noteworthy in terms of reflecting the cultural and ideological bond of the Turkish Cypriot community with the motherland.102
İskilip Newspaper is one of the other magazines to which Ilgaz contributed based on her journalistic knowledge and experience. In the first issue of the İskilip Newspaper which was founded on 23 April 1947 as a publication of the İskilip People’s House, Ilgaz expressed her opinions and suggestions on the publication principles of the magazine and her wishes for it to be a long-lasting magazine.103 The Turkish
96 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2625.
97 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2085.
98 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_024_1340
99 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_467; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_469
100 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_034_1960; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2724; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2085; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2086.
101 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_006_604.
102 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1592.
103 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1577.
26
Children’s Magazine and the Bulletin of the Parent-Teacher Association were among the periodicals Ilgaz contributed to during and after her parliamentary term. In 1947, upon the request of the Minister of National Education, Ilgaz wrote an article on “Holiday Activities of Parent-Teacher Associations Related to Schools” in the first issue of the Parent-Teacher Association Bulletin.104 In 1950, she prepared the information column in the Turkish Children’s Magazine, which was published to help Child Protection Agency (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 223).
In her newspaper and magazine articles, the details of which will be given in the third part of the thesis, Ilgaz expressed her thoughts and suggestions on almost every subject, including almost every segment of society. Ilgaz’s writings, which reflect the traces of her respect, gratitude, and admiration for Atatürk and which she penned with the desire to teach and make the society adopt Atatürk’s principles and reforms in the construction of the new Turkey, gave color to Ilgaz’s journalist identity. Especially her articles on education and young people are remarkable. In addition, Ilgaz’s observations on social problems and her suggestions for solutions, as well as the issues she touches on villages, village dwellers, and life in the village, bear traces of Ilgaz’s wide interest and knowledge. Ilgaz also shared her knowledge on the subjects she was interested in and worked on in the newspaper columns. For example, her series of articles “What I Saw in 33 Prisons (33 Cezaevinde Gördüklerim)” includes her observations and suggestions on the prisons and prisoners she visited while she was a deputy of Çorum.105
Ilgaz was also interested in the problems of press publishing, especially the Anatolian press. On November 16, 1962, Ilgaz participated in the Publishing Congress, and at the Second Publishing Congress in 1975, she drew attention to the fact that press publishing faced the same problems despite the 13 years that had passed and expressed the support they expected from the state for the solution of these problems.106 In Yeni Adam Magazine dated September 1978, she also mentioned the importance of the Anatolian and Thracian Press and initiatives to solve its problems.107
On the other hand, Ilgaz is a journalist with a press card. When she was a member of parliament from Çorum, she applied to the Prime Ministry General
104 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2346;
105 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_366; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2311.
106 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_007_607; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_077_025; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2078; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2278.
107 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_015_941.
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Directorate of Press, Publications, and Tourism for a press card. Upon this request, Ilgaz was granted a press card by the relevant institution on 13 May 1950 as a writer for Kadın Newspaper. The annual press card was renewed in 1951.108 Within this framework, Ilgaz made another attempt in November 1970. On 18 November 1970, Ilgaz sent a letter to the Prime Ministry Directorate of Press and Publications, stating that her articles had been published in various newspapers and magazines since 1933 and requesting a press honor card on the grounds that she had proved that she had completed 25 years in the press with her articles in Çorum Newspaper between 1946 and 1950.109 Upon this application, Ilgaz was given a press honor card in the capacity of “freelance journalist” since she had “worked in the press for more than 25 years and continued with her writings”.110 These cards were renewed in 1973, 1975, and 1989.111 Ilgaz also holds the press card of the Association of Turkish Tourism Writers and Journalists (ATURJET), of which she was the president for a period.112
On the other hand, according to the information we obtained from her private archive, Ilgaz was a member of the board of directors of the Turkish Press Union (TBB) in 1964. She continued to serve as a member of the board of directors at the 1966 Congress of the Union. In December 1969, she submitted her resignation to the TBB General Secretariat, citing her illness as the reason, but her resignation was not accepted, stating that she would be considered to be on leave from meetings during her illness. On 5 October 1974, Ilgaz was elected as a member of the Press Council of the TBB.113 According to her private notes, Ilgaz continued to be a member of the TBB after 1980. In this note, in which she states that she has been a journalist for 50 years, Ilgaz also writes that she holds a Yellow Press Honour Card.114
108 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2109; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2110.
109 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2085; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2086.
110 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2354.
111 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2063; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1675; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1674; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1661; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2372.
112 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1644; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1619.
113 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1666; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1901, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_192, p. 4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_107, p. 14; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_119; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2655.
114 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_192.
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CHAPTER 2
HASENE ILGAZ’S SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ACTIVITIES
Under the influence of the conditions in which she grew up, Ilgaz attached importance to social and cultural activities and did not neglect to participate in such invitations. In her own words, it is possible to see Ilgaz “sometimes in the development of an association, sometimes in a facility plan, sometimes in an opening ceremony, sometimes in aid distribution activities, sometimes in the anniversary of a foundation or liberation”. Ilgaz was also invited to programs organized to honor guests visiting Turkey. Her social and cultural activities indicate her multifaceted personality, love for the country, belief in Atatürk’s revolutions, and eagerness to educate and teach. With her inexhaustible energy, Ilgaz devoted 18 hours a day to the affairs of her country, her family, her environment, and her duties (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 124; Ilgaz, 1990, back cover).
Ilgaz worked sacrificially for women, children, young, old, tradesmen, students, and all layers of society. She endeavored to educate and raise awareness of the whole society, men and women, old and young, through her activities at the People’s House, conferences, seminars, and writings.115 As a teacher in love with Atatürk and his reforms (Selçuker, 1987, p.2 & 10),116 with her inexhaustible energy, she believed that “she handed over the torch she took in her hand to the next generation in a burning form and that young people and citizens would take care of this burning torch” (Ilgaz, 1991a, p. 30; Gümüşoğlu, 2001, p. 34; Gümüşoğlu, 2022, p. 551).
Another noteworthy approach that Ilgaz took in this context was her characterization of the Democratic Party (DP) as “the government of the counter-revolution” for closing down the People’s Houses (Gümüşoğlu, p. 29). According to her, after the DP was removed from power with the 1960 revolution, the people who took over the administration banned political activities and social activities gained momentum, thus Atatürk’s revolutions began to be taught again through conferences, seminars, and trips (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 144). After the revolution, the Istanbul Provincial Women’s Branches of the CHP, of which Ilgaz was the president, revised its work plan due to changing conditions and the new constitution coming into force. In this process, seminars and conferences were organized on topics such as the new Constitution (1961 Constitution), the duties of Turkish women, the revolutions of the Republic, Atatürk’s
115 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 1.
116 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1773.
29
principles, mutual love, and tolerance. Some of these programs were also published as booklets.117
2.1. Social Activities of Ilgaz
Ilgaz describes her interest in social welfare activities: “I have listened to and seen so many things from all my family elders, starting with my mother, that perhaps as a result of these things, my habit of helping [other people] still continues”.118 Ilgaz, who founded a charity branch at her school for her friends in need when she was still in school, states that her grandmother was known for the fact that her house in Safranbolu was open to visitors during the month of Ramadan, shedding light on her past that shaped her spirit of solidarity and charity.119 Gümüşoğlu argues that Ilgaz’s social activities were shaped by her belief in the necessity of being a social state. With this belief and feeling that led her to run from charity to charity, Ilgaz worked for a lifetime as either the president, founder, or member of several social institutions and organizations (the numbers amounted to 26 according to Gümüşoğlu and Banoğlu and 40 according to Ilgaz’s notes)120 (Gümüşoğlu, 2001, p. 21; Banoğlu, 1989, p. 4).
In her curriculum vitae given to the Parliament, Ilgaz lists the social and cultural institutions she founded between 1923 and 1943 as “[Association] for Supporting the Poor (Fukaraperver [Cemiyeti]), Child Protection [Agency] (Çocuk Esirgeme Kurumu), [Association for the Help] of Poor Children in Primary Schools (İlkokullar Yoksul Çocuklar [Yardım Derneği], CHP Employment and Rescue Home (CHP İş Bulma Kurtarma Yurdu), founding member and chairman of Turkish Language Association, and chairman of Fatih District Aeronautical Association (Fatih İlçesi Hava Kurumu)” (HT_1230_1_8). When we look at her 98 years of life, we see that Ilgaz was the founder, president and member of the board of directors of many associations and foundations, such as Turkish Historical Society, Turkish Language Association, Turkish Red Crescent (founder of the Women’s Aid Branch), Child Protection Agency (board member and president), Turkish Aeronautical Association (Fatih District president), Charity Association (founder of the Istanbul branch), Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye (chairman), Association of Aid to Darülaceze (founder), Istanbul Nursing Home (founder and chairman of Association for
117 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1679.
118 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2563.
119 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2563.
120 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2747; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_192; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2747; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2563.
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Establishing and Sustaining the Nursing Homes), Turkish Civil Retirees Association (founder), Retirees Federation, Retired Teachers Association, Turkish Press Union (member, holder of a press honor card from 1950 onwards), the Family Planning [Association], Assosiation for Supporting the Poor (Fukaraperver Cemiyeti), the Turkish Tourism Writers and Journalists Association (founder and president), Children’s Friends Association, Turkish Women’s Union, Turkish Women’s Council, Turkish Navy Society (honorary member), Istanbul Social Services Federation (president), Deaf and Mute Rehabilitation Foundation (founder)121, Tuberculosis Fight Association (Verem Savaş Derneği), and [National] Economy and Savings Association (Ilgaz, 1981, 246; Davaz, 2014, p.434; Gökçimen, 2009, p. 219). She held honorary presidencies and honorary memberships in the associations of Let’s Keep Istanbul Clean (İstanbul’u Temiz Tutalım), Protection of Women’s Rights (Kadın Haklarını Koruma), Green Crescent, Aid to Artisans (Sanatkarlara Yardım), Aid to Poor Patients (Fakir Hastalara Yardım), Parent-Teacher (Okul-Aile Birliği), Aid to Police Pensioners (Polis Emeklilerine Yardım), Tuberculosis Fight (Verem Savaş), Libraries (Kütüphaneler), Disabled People (Sakatlar), Protection of Antiquities (Eski Eserleri Koruma), Parliamentarians (Parlamenterler), Zincirlikuyu Cemeteries (Zincirlikuyu Mezarlıklar) and Çanakkale and Kırklareli Martyrs’ Cemeteries (Çanakkale ve Kırklareli Şehitlikleri).122 She was an honorary member of Association of Disabled War Veterans (Harp Malulü Gaziler Derneği) and honorary president of [Turkish] Cypriot Cultural Association (Kıbrıs [Türk] Kültür Derneği) (Ilgaz, 1970, back cover).123 In the general assembly of [Turkish] Cypriot Cultural Association held on January 7, 1950, she served as the congress president (https://www.kibristkd.org.tr/pg_15_tarihce). Ilgaz, who was also an honorary member of associations such as Association of the Blind (Körler Derneği), Iraqi Cultural Association (Irak Kültür Derneği), Indian Cultural Association (Hindistan Kültür Derneği), Turkish Mothers’ Association (Türk Anneler Derneği) (Ilgaz, 1981, 246; Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p. 2), was also active in the activities of the People’s House. Working in the social and history branch of Eminönü People’s House and serving as the president of Şehremini People’s House, Ilgaz endeavored to educate the whole society, especially young people, and children (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 17 and 246, Ilgaz, 1970,
121 Turkish Hearing and Speech Rehabilitation Foundation (TİV)
122 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2747.
123 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_192.
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back cover; Ilgaz, 1990, back cover). In addition, Ilgaz’s name, who set an example for both her generation and later generations with her speeches and social activities, is also mentioned among the “ideal Ocaklılar (ideal figures of the Revolutionary Hearths)” in the 1953 Board of Directors report of Turkish Revolutionary Hearths (Türk Devrim Ocakları).124
According to Ilgaz, there are four social issues that concern the societies of the period: children, the elderly, the disabled, and the young.125 Looking at the social institutions in which she was active, Ilgaz carried out many activities under the umbrella of social institutions that served these social issues that she considered to be of concern to society. She worked with great devotion and enthusiasm for the restoration of Darülaceze and the Grand Bazaar, road planning during the construction of the Bosphorus Bridge in 1973, the reconstruction of martyrs’ cemeteries, meeting the needs of immigrants and disaster victims of earthquakes and floods, opening schools for the education of children and young people in neighborhoods without schools, establishing dormitories for students’ housing needs, bringing idle libraries to readers, opening places where the elderly and orphaned children could live, and many other issues.
2.1.1. Her Association and Foundation Activities
As mentioned above, Ilgaz has been active in many associations and foundations, including almost all layers of society. Here, we will discuss the associations and foundations in which she took an active role as founder or president. In addition to this, we will also mention the activities of associations and foundations such as Turkish Navy Society and Turkish Cypriot Cultural Association, which have a special place in Ilgaz’s life as honorary members or presidents.
2.1.1.1. Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye126
Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye is located in Edirnekapı. Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Society was established in 1926 for the expenses and income of this area, which was allocated as martyrdom in 1914, and the society was transformed into a foundation in 1971. Hasene Ilgaz was the first chairperson of the foundation’s board of directors (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 169-170).127 On June 12, 1973, the Foundation was exempted from taxation by Council of Ministers
124 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2539, p. 2.
125 KEKBMV HIÖA, 10002_002_179.
126 Türkiye Şehitlikleri İmar Vakfı
127 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_192, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2455; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1700, p. 2.
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Decree No. 7/4646.128 In addition to the Sakız Ağacı and Edirnekapı Martyrs’ Cemeteries, there are 16 other martyrs’ cemeteries, including Çanakkale Martyrdom, Kırklareli, Sinop, Yalova Martyrdom and Hamidiye Martyrdom (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 177; Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 57-58).129
Ilgaz’s interest in martyrdom began in 1937 when she was the president of Şehremini People’s House under the guidance of Muhittin Üstündağ, the governor of Istanbul at the time. Ilgaz, who worked for the reconstruction of the Martyrdom, which was abandoned at the time, did not cease her interest in the Martyrdom even when she went to Ankara as Hatay deputy in 1943. For ten years, aid was provided from the State budget for the martyrdom, and its construction was carried out. Ilgaz left the board of directors as “honorary chairman” at the Foundation’s meeting on April 16, 1990.130 However, she continued her voluntary service here until 1991 (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 57 and 87).131
Ilgaz, who classified the names of the martyrs buried in the martyrdom according to their cities, identified the names of 2215 martyrs from the records in the Foundation's archive. A copy of this study was sent to the Ministry of National Defense. Detecting that there are 2000 martyrs from the Balkan and World War I in the Sakızağacı Martyrdom, Ilgaz noted that the Air Force martyrdom, Fire Brigade martyrs, and Police martyrs are also here. War Invalid veterans, Prime Ministers, ministers, deputies, ambassadors, and generals also lie in martyrdom (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 176).132 Ilgaz also examined the minutes, telegrams, reports, and statutes of all congresses held at the martyrdom since 1926 and recorded them year by year.133 She has also created an archive about some of the prominent people who served the country, such as Mehmet Akif Ersoy, Babanzade Ahmed Naim, and Süleyman Nazif.
One of the activities spearheaded by Ilgaz within this foundation was the moving of the graves of Babanzade and Süleyman Nazif to their new locations next to Akif’s grave on February 25, 1971, in a ceremony organized by the Association for Commemoration of Turkish Elders and Promotion of Turkish Beauties (Türk
128 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2397, p. 4.
129 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1739; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2629; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_024.
130 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1761, p 4.
131 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2551; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2629; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2723.
132 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1798; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2629; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_024, p. 10.
133 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1798
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Büyüklerini Anma ve Türk Güzelliklerini Tanıtma Derneği).134 According to the information given by Ilgaz, Mehmet Akif, who died on December 27, 1936, was transferred from Edirnekapı Private Necati Bey cemetery to Edirnekapı Martyrdom on May 23, 1960. It is possible to read the memory of Mehmet Akif and the transfer of his grave in Ilgaz’s article in Tavşanlı Postası dated May 25, 1962.135 Upon Akif’s will, Babanzade Ahmed Naim and Süleyman Nazif were buried next to him.136 Due to the construction of the Bosphorus Bridge ring road in 1970, the transfer of Muallim Cevdet’s grave to Edirnekapı Martyrdom was brought to the agenda with the initiative of Süheyl Ünver. In a letter dated August 11, 1972, Ünver thanked Ilgaz for her contribution to this initiative.137 Another transfer from the Edirnekapı Martyrdom and Sakızağacı Martyrdom was the transfer of Atatürk’s comrades-in-arms to the State Cemetery in Ankara. The bodies of 9 of Atatürk’s comrades were transferred to the State Cemetery. Ilgaz recorded these names and the places where they were buried in the martyrdom one by one.138
One of Ilgaz’s works during her presidency was to pioneer a plan for the connection of the ring road that would pass through the martyrdom during the construction of the Bosphorus Bridge in a way that would not eliminate hundreds of martyr and public cemeteries (Ilgaz, 1981, p.177).139 Ilgaz had the plan changed three times for the construction of this road, which started in 1970 and was completed in 1974, and the last plan was accepted and it was decided to remove the symbolic graves of the martyrs and pass a tunnel underneath. Ilgaz also provided information on the technical specifications and cost of the Edirnekapı Martyrdom Tunnel. 140
The Foundation141 organized official and private ceremonies on official days such as March 16, August 30, May 19, and October 29, the Liberation of Istanbul, or on the occasion of well-known people such as Mehmet Akif, who was buried in the martyrdom, published a book on some martyrdoms such as Çanakkale and Edirne
134 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2041; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2464; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2394.
135 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_023_1280; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_023_1275.
136 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2558
137 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2120
138 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2493, p. 6; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1804, p. 2.
139 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_192, p.2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2551; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_164.
140 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2299; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2396.
141 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1739, pp. 8-9; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1710, p. 7; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1761, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_1996, p. 7.
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Martyrdoms and two brochures from 1938 and 1951.142 The sad story of the Ertuğrul Frigate and the Cyprus Martyrs was also published by the Foundation.143 The proposal to change the name of Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye to “Turkish Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation” was also brought to the agenda at the General Assembly meeting in 1991.144
The Society also played a pioneering role in the construction of the Çanakkale Martyrs’ monument. Upon the request of the Istanbul Presidency of the Turkish Women’s Union, Turkish Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Society took an active role in the construction of this monument, and the construction of the monument, which was started in 1952 by collecting donations and the foundation of which was laid in 1954, was completed in 1959. Inaugurated on August 21, 1960, the monument was handed over to the Ministry of National Education (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 179; Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 62).
Ilgaz, who has been a member, general secretary, second and first chairman of the board of directors, founder and manager of Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Society of Türkiye (Foundation since 1971) since 1937, paid her debt of gratitude by having a shilt (plate) made in return for 22 shilts sent by the military authorities for her outstanding services to the martyrdom (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 179; Ilgaz, 1991b, 57).145 Ilgaz built a glass case for these shilts, recorded them in the inventory, and hung them in the meeting hall in 1979.146 On the 50th anniversary of Mehmet Akif’s death, Ilgaz delivered a speech at a program held at the Martyrs’ Cemetery and, as the president of the Foundation, was presented with a plaque by the then Minister of Culture and Tourism, A. Mesut Yılmaz (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 57).147 On June 18, 1990, the Board of Directors of Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye awarded Ilgaz an Honorary Membership to Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation and thanked her for her services as the president of the Foundation since its establishment (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 81).148 Ilgaz’s interest and contribution to the martyrdom continued as a member of the board of trustees of the Foundation after 1991.149
142 KEK HIÖA 10002_029_1710, p. 11.
143 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1761, p. 3.
144 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1761, p. 1 & 5.
145 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2551; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2382.
146 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2420; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2301, p. 4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1803.
147 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1798, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2752, p. 3.
148 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2551.
149 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2303.
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2.1.1.2. Istanbul Social Services Federation150
According to the 1962 first semester work report of the board, the first step of the federation was taken on March 13, 1959, with the initiative of some associations in Istanbul and meetings held at the Directorate of Health and Social Welfare, and was accepted and encouraged at the I. National Conference on Social Services was held in December of the same year. The board, which accelerated its activities from this date onwards, formed a temporary board of directors in March 1960, drafted a charter, and put it into practice on June 2-3, 1961 with the involvement of the General Directorate of Social Services of Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.151
According to the information given by Ilgaz, at least twenty associations came together in the building of the Istanbul Health Directorate to help each other and undertake each of the needs of low-income families by association, and it was decided to establish the Social Services Coordination Board in Istanbul. The name of the coordination board, which became active upon the decision to establish the Social Services Coordination Board in Istanbul, was changed to federation due to the new law on associations, and this organization was formed as an association for the benefit of public associations (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 190).152 The first president of the federation was Hasene Ilgaz.153 Although there is no precise data on the number of years Ilgaz served as president, according to the information in the 1988-1989 annual report, Ilgaz was still the president of the federation at that time.154
In a speech on February 4, 1966, Ilgaz explains the purpose of the federation, which was founded in 1961, as preventing the abuse that has occurred or may occur in the field of social services, coordinating the work of associations operating in this field and giving them a scientific direction.155 On October 16, 1965, the Istanbul Social Services Coordination Board was granted the status of a public benefit association by the decision of the Council of Ministers.156 In the early years, the federation also had branches in Ankara, Izmir, and Eskisehir, but these branches were closed down due to
150 İstanbul Sosyal Hizmetler Federasyonu
151 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2477.
152 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_192_ p..4.
153 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1897.
154 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1652.
155 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1897.
156 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1685, p. 3.
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impossibilities, and only the Istanbul Social Services Federation was able to continue on its way.157
The Federation primarily worked on the classification of associations established by the Law on Associations, the determination of the real situation of people defined as poor, the possibility of social insurance, and the disciplining of the receipt printing of associations.158 In addition, the federation has 22 member associations, including Child Protection Agency, Red Crescent, Green Crescent, Association of Aid to Darülaceze, Children’s Friends Association, Establishing and Sustaining the Nursing Homes, Istanbul Tuberculosis Association (İstanbul Verem Savaş Derneği), Society for Aid to the Poor (Yoksullara Yardım Derneği), Civilian General Retired Association, Istanbul Charity Association, Turkish Women’s Council and Deaf and Mute Assistance Association (Sağır ve Dilsizler Yardımlaşma Derneği), and 8 villages in Bitlis in the East. Apart from these 22 associations, 8 other associations are engaged in adult education.159 Yumurtatepe village in Bitlis was chosen as a model village and a flour factory and social buildings were built in the village. In an article she wrote in the November 1975 issue of Eflatun Magazine, Ilgaz provides information about the activities in Yumurtatepe Village (Ilgaz, November 1975, pp. 12-13 ).160 The planned opening of the Village Room could not be realized due to the change of government (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 190). To support the adult education branch, a talk program was organized in 1977 for the benefit of adult education.161
Another activity they undertook as the Istanbul Social Services Federation was the construction of busts of Atatürk in every school that did not have a bust of Atatürk as part of an activity planned for the 100th anniversary of Atatürk's birth. In addition, the busts of Mr. Ali Rıza and Mrs. Zübeyde, who had no busts in Istanbul, were built and placed in the garden of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality with a ceremony held on August 26, 1981 (Ilgaz 1981, p. 7).162 In the same year, the Turkish Cypriot Peace Forces Command was contacted to finalize the efforts of two years ago to open a rest house affiliated Cypriot Women’s Council in Cyprus.163
157 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1652.
158 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1897.
159 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1897; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_192_ p..4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1865, pp. 14-34; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1781, p.1.
160 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_016_969.
161 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2020.
162 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2659; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1681; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_1994.
163 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2657; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_024_1333.
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The Federation, which is also in contact with institutions and organizations engaged in international social activities, hosted members of the Malaysian Muslim Women’s Development Council under the presidency of Malaysia’s first Queen Tunku Kurchiah on September 15-17, 1984. Ilgaz spoke at the inter-association meeting held within the framework of the planned travel program for the delegation and informed them about the Federation’s purpose and fields of activity.164 As the President of Social Services, Ilgaz also served on the organizing committee of the International Conference on Learning through Voluntary Service (LIVE), which took place in Turkey on June 20-25, 1978.165
When we look at Ilgaz’s efforts on this issue, we see that although the Istanbul Social Services Coordination Board started its activities in the early 1960s, the Union of Social Aid Societies had been formed years before with an effort in which Ilgaz was also involved. While Ilgaz was still a member of the CHP Istanbul Provincial Administrative Board, she conducted a study on behalf of social associations.166 In this study, Ilgaz, who prepared the income and expenditure tables of müsamere (performance/show) held in Istanbul in 1937-38 and 1938-1939, determined that the performances organized by the People’s Houses, the People’s Chambers, Association for Supporting the Poor, Turkish Aeronautical Association, Red Crescent Society and Child Protection Agency caused more losses than profits. In her speech to the CHP Provincial Executive, Ilgaz shared the results of her research and stated that much more revenue could be generated by organizing an annual ball between the associations. This led to the idea of establishing inter-association coordination and organizing social balls through this channel so that associations could support low-income families. Henceforth, it was decided that the proceeds of the social balls would be distributed to the associations according to their income percentages, and an inter-association cooperation committee was established for this purpose. This committee aimed to ensure that the associations were administered from a single source and to be able to help those in need throughout the city with one ball. Ankara Mayor Ragıp Tüzün, who wanted the idea of the Union of Social Aid Societies to be implemented in Ankara, asked Ilgaz to prepare a draft law (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 134-136).
164 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2034; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2035.
165 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1864.
166 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2543
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About 20 years after the idea of the Union of Social Aid Societies emerged, Ilgaz participated in the I. and II. Social Services Conference, where she had the opportunity to express her thoughts on social issues (Ilgaz 1981, p. 136). On December 27, 1959, Ilgaz was among the speakers at the I. Social Services Conference in the large hall of the Faculty of Language, History, and Geography. In her speech, Ilgaz mentioned that the Turkish civilization, starting from the homeland, brought their benevolence to all the regions they migrated to, and her speech was greatly appreciated (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 138-139). Ilgaz’s reports on social issues prepared within the framework of the First National Social Services Conference held in December 1959 became a road map for the Institute of Social Services.167 Held on May 6, 1962, the Second National Social Services Conference focused on children, especially village children. All problems related to children were discussed, from birth rates, family planning, child diseases, and deaths to the patenting of infant formula to Child Protection Agency (Ilgaz, 1981, 139). Ilgaz, who also made a speech at the II. Social Services Conference, wrote an article in Vakit Newspaper dated June 4, 1962, on the ‘village child thesis’ that came to the agenda at the II. Social Services Conference.168 During the formation process of the Federation, Ilgaz participated in meetings held at the Provincial Health Directorate on behalf of the Darülaceze Social Service and Organization Bureau and ensured that Association of Aid to Darülaceze joined the Association of Aid Organizations (Oruz, 1974, p. 194; Özbek, 2017, pp. 43-46). In this respect, Ilgaz was, in Ozbek’s words, one of the pioneers of the ‘new type of philanthropy’ movement that developed in the 1960s and 1970s, which encouraged cooperation between aid associations providing services in different fields and brought together many people from wealthy families to political elites (Özbek, 2017, p. 61).
As president of the federation, Ilgaz also took part in the organizing committee of events organized by various associations and foundations on behalf of the board.169
2.1.1.3. Association for the Establishing and Sustaining the Nursing Homes170
Ilgaz says that the idea of establishing a nursing home came about after a trip to America in 1962. During this trip, they visited several nursing homes in New York, and
167 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2087.
168 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2554; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1696.
169 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_034_1926, p. 2.
170 Huzurevleri Kurma ve Yaşatma Derneği
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with the impression they gained, they started working to open a nursing home as soon as they returned to Istanbul (Ilgaz, 1981, p.170).171
On February 11, 1963, the Akay Clinic, located on the Old London asphalt in Bahçelievler, Bakırköy, which was to be closed due to financial difficulties, was purchased with its furniture. The Nursing Home, whose deficiencies were completed with the means at hand, Terkos water was brought in, and a library was established, which was put into service on July 1, 1964. On May 17, 1967, the Nursing Home was granted the status of a public benefit association and, according to Ilgaz’s account, was established with the help of İffet Halim Oruz, the president of Association of Aid to Darülaceze. Oruz obtained 200 thousand liras from Association of Aid to Darülaceze as a loan, and to pay this debt, medallions worth 10 liras were printed and sold to philanthropists (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 170-171).172 Ilgaz summarizes this process with the note “The first home for the elderly in Turkey, a nursing home with 50 beds with 10 liras of aid”.173
Upon the request of her fellow founders, Ilgaz assumed the presidency of the first Nursing Home in Turkey, which, in Ilgaz’s words, was a model with its name and activities. Ilgaz served as the director of the institution between 1964 and 1971 until its debts were paid and the Nursing Home was developed (Ilgaz, 1981, p.171 https://istanbulhuzurevi.org.tr/index.php?id=100000&dil=TR&sz=1&sp=1).174 During her presidency, Ilgaz endeavored to overcome the deficiencies of the Nursing Home, which was home to many elderly people. In a letter she wrote as the director of the Institution dated June 20, 1970, she stated that the Institution’s sewage, drinking water, kitchen installations, and maintenance-repair works were provided with the donations made, and she requested help for the solution of the problems that currently existed in the heating system.175
2.1.1.4. Association of Aid to Darülaceze176
Association of Aid to Darülaceze, like the Istanbul Charity Association, was founded in 1941 to provide for the unmet needs of the Darülaceze, especially food due to the difficult conditions brought about by World War II (Oruz, 1974, p.192). During
171 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2456;
172 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2451; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2456.
173 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2307.
174 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2451.
175 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_022_1235.
176 Darülaceze’ye Yardım Derneği
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this period, Ilgaz, who was a member of the Party’s Provincial Executive Board, took an interest in the issue within the framework of the task of dealing with social institutions entrusted to her by Lütfi Kırdar, the Governor of the period, who was also the Municipality and CHP Istanbul Provincial Chairman. First of all, a commission was formed, and an assessment of the situation was made. A meeting was held at Darülaceze with the prominent figures of Istanbul, including Hayri İpar, and Ilgaz’s proposal to establish an aid association to meet the needs was accepted by Kırdar (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 154; Oruz, 1974, p. 192; Özbek, 2017, p. 57). On June 18, 1941, with the second meeting being held under the chairmanship of Hayri İpar, the association was founded and Hayri İpar was elected as its first president. On May 28, 1942, at the Board of Directors meeting, Lütfi Kırdar was appointed as the president and Hayri İpar became the second president (Oruç, 1974, 192). However, Kırdar could only hold this position for two months due to his busy schedule, and İpar was re-elected as president on July 27, 1942 (Oruz, 1974, p. 193). With the decision of the Council of Ministers dated January 8, 1944, the Association was deemed one of the associations working for public benefit (Oruz, 1974, p. 193).
Ilgaz, whose interest in the Darülaceze dates back to before the Association was founded, was elected as a member of the CHP Provincial Executive Board in 1938 from the Presidency of Şehremini People’s House and was also assigned to social and cultural affairs in the Party (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 34).177 Ilgaz, who, in Ilgaz’s words, did great services for Istanbul with the newly appointed Lütfi Kırdar, “quietly and unpretentiously” (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 34), determined that the Darülaceze was in need of repair and ruins as early as 1938, and sought remedies with Governor Kırdar for the repair of the collapsed parts of the building.178 During the two months until the official procedures required for the establishment of the Association were completed, Ilgaz worked with her means to meet the urgent needs she had identified and ensured that the iron, tiles, and cement waiting at the customs for the repair of the buildings with collapsed roofs were used in the repair of these buildings. She bought milk for the children from several factories, had clean mattress covers sewn, and obtained oilcloth and cotton fabrics from customs. She had the Selçuk Girls’ Institute sew the clothes needed by children and adults (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 154; Oruz, 1974, p. 192; Özbek, 2017, p.
177 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2495.
178 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2527
41
58).179 During this period, in a meeting organized by Ilgaz at the CHP Provincial building, issues such as how to evacuate the city, in particular institutions such as the Darülaceze and hospitals, and how to transfer them to Anatolia in the event of a possible World War II were discussed by the agenda set by Ilgaz (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 189).180
One of Ilgaz’s efforts on behalf of the Association was her efforts to have the Association accepted into the Association of Aid Organizations, also known as the Federation of Social Services, in 1960. With the decision dated April 11, 1960, the Association joined the Union of Aid Organizations with the participation of Dr. Turgut Babaoğlu and Hasene Ilgaz on behalf of the Darülaceze Social Service Organization Bureau, as a result of meetings held at the Provincial Health Directorate (Oruz, 1974, p. 194). As Ilgaz put it, her “second intensive work” on behalf of the Association began after her speech on social issues at the I. Social Services Conference was appreciated. With two social assistants, Ilgaz undertook the task of creating an archive by examining the files of Darülaceze residents. After 3 months of this work, Ilgaz voluntarily took a break due to the pressure to change the Party (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 138 and 154). This pressure was unacceptable for Ilgaz, whose motto in all her work was “to prioritize service to the country, to always stay away from the things called partyism that wear people down, to say right is right and wrong is wrong, no matter where and who he/she is”. Because, according to her, if a person is useful, he or she is useful everywhere. Moreover, the existence of such people is important for social balance (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 138).
Ilgaz describes her interest in Darülaceze as “one of the institutions that I have been closely and distantly interested in since the day I started social work” (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 153). The source of this interest and the importance she attached to Darülaceze is expressed in the article Ilgaz wrote on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the founding of Darülaceze. According to Ilgaz, Darülaceze, which is based on working and making people work, was built with a modern understanding, far ahead of the charity approach of its time, and formed the core of the rehabilitation centers established in tuberculosis hospitals and sanatoriums in the 1950s.181 In addition to the events organized on various occasions such as Mother’s Day and the anniversary of the
179 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2304; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2527.
180 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2430, p. 2.
181 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1458; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_229; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1903.
42
founding of Darülaceze, Ilgaz visited Darülaceze whenever she had the chance and brought gifts to the children and the elderly.182
In 1973, Ilgaz was selected by the Turkish Mothers’ Union as the mother of Darülaceze, where she had worked devotedly for many years.183 On May 12, 1985, she proposed Sadıka Sabancı as the mother of the year on behalf of the Presidency of Social Services, and a ceremony was held for 75-year-old Sadıka Sabancı at Darülaceze with the participation of the Governor of Istanbul, her family, and the residents of Darülaceze.184 On May 9, 1982, Ilgaz was also named Mother of the Year by Eminönü Lions Club.185
2.1.1.5. Turkish Tourism Writers and Journalists Association186
Ilgaz was among the founders of Turkish Tourism Writers and Journalists Association (ATURJET).187 According to Ilgaz, upon the writings of French journalist and writer M. J. Billiet, who came to Turkey on September 13, 1965, as a guest of Ministry of Tourism and Promotion, and her friends, the members of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Press Union decided to establish ATURJET. This association, led by Ercüment Melih Özbay, was founded on April 7, 1966, with the aim of “revealing and evaluating Turkey’s natural, archaeological and folkloric riches and thus making tourism Turkey’s most important economic issue” and hereby “providing foreign currency inflow to Turkey”. Etem İzzet Benice was appointed as the chairman of the Board of Directors (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 184).188
On March 23, 1967, upon the death of İzzet Benice,189 Ilgaz, who took office as president on April 11, 1967, was primarily concerned with the issue of membership to Fédération Internationale des Journalistes et Ecrivains du Tourisme (FIJET).190 To ensure cooperation with FIJET, which had been established in 1954 as a federation led by tourism writers from Paris, Belgium, Italy, and France, ATURJET completed the official procedures between 1968 and 1969 and became a member of FIJET with the
182 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_017_996; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2410.
183 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2383; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2786, p. 3; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2561.
184 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2398, p. 1; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1006.
185 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2786, p.1.
186 Türkiye Turizm Yazarları ve Gazetecileri Derneği (ATURJET)
187 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2390, p. 31.
188 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1643, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2606, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_023; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_020_1087.
189 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2606, p. 2.
190 In English, World Federation of Travel Journalists and Writers.
43
decision of Council of Ministers on July 18, 1969 (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 184-185).191 At one point, due to Ilgaz’s busy schedule, Falih Rıfkı Atay, who had written the first tourism articles in Turkey, was considered for the presidency, but Falih Rıfkı, who said that he was writing a book on Atatürk at the time, said that he could accept the presidency of the Association in name only. Falih Rıfkı held this presidency for a while under the direction of the Board of Directors. In this congress convened in November 1969, Hasene Ilgaz was also elected as the second president (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 125-126. 29).192 On June 9, 1973, according to her letter of resignation to G. Vecsey, Ilgaz seems to have served as president until this date.193 Also, according to the information on the press cards given to Ilgaz by FIJET, Ilgaz became president in 1972 and a member in 1974.194
ATURJET, which participated in the congresses of Israel, Romania, and Hungary during the process of membership to FIJET, could not attend the FIJET congress in Ireland in 1968 but participated in the 14th FIJET congress held in Varna on September 20-29, 1969 (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 184).195 From this congress onwards, ATURJET took part in the activities organized within this framework as long as financial conditions permitted. According to Ilgaz’s notes on the 16th FIJET Congress held in Palermo on October 3-9, 1971, before this congress, during the Tourism Seminar held in Varna, Bulgaria on September 20-27, 1971 with the participation of Balkan countries, it was brought to the agenda to convene the 1972 Directors’ Committee in Turkey. In fact, firstly, this issue came up at the 1970 Directors’ Committee meeting held in Belgium; however, since ATURJET could not attend the 1970 meeting of the Directors’ Committee due to financial constraints, it was decided that the 1973 Directors’ meeting could be held in Turkey and the issue would be evaluated at the 16th FIJET Congress.196 There is no record of whether the FIJET
191 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1643, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_023, p. 4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_020_1087, p. 4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2390, p. 32; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_021_1139; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2540, p. 1.
192 KEK HIÖA 10002_043_2530, p. 1.
193 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2352.
194 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1644; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1619.
195 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1643, p. 3; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2530, pp. 2-4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_023, p. 4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_020_1087, p. 19; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1875.
196 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2530, p. 5; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1907, p. 4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2539, p. 5; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1848, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1875, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2540, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_023, pp. 3 and 20; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_020_1087, pp. 3 and 20; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1664; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1690; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_030.
44
Directors’ and Balkan Tourism Writers’ Association Meetings, which were planned to be held in Turkey in 1972 or 1973, took place in Turkey, except for a letter requesting permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the delegates to come to Turkey in 1973.197 The meetings in question appear to have taken place in Turkey on April 17-22, 1978.198
At the FIJET congress in Varna, Ilgaz made a speech introducing the cultural characteristics of Turkey on topics such as “Turkish Folk Music, Turkish Folk Literature, Folk Dances, Turkish Folklore, poetry, traditions of dress and clothing”.199 Another initiative of Ilgaz after this congress was to apply to the Ministry of Tourism and Promotion and the Governorship of Istanbul on November 5, 1969, with a petition, expressing her observations of the Varna Congress and the contribution they expected from them as ATURJET.200 On the other hand, we see that in September 1969, a copy of the documents of this congress held in Varna was requested for the Central Library in Brussels.201 In the 45th issue of Yeni Defne Magazine, Ilgaz discussed her views on the congress in question with her article titled “Bulgaria and Us”.202
As the president of ATURJET, Ilgaz also made a speech at the 17th FIJET Congress on October 16, 1972. In this speech, Ilgaz gave information about the establishment of ATURJET and the process of joining FIJET and also touched upon the historical sites and touristic features of Turkey.203 Among the noteworthy activities of Ilgaz were ATURJET’s efforts to participate in FIJET’s 1971 Balkan States Seminar,204 her address to the members on the occasion of the visit of FIJET delegates to Istanbul,205 and her endeavors to recruit tourism writers from mainstream newspapers to the Association.206 Ilgaz also participated on behalf of ATURJET in the article competition organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Promotion to celebrate 1967 as the “International Tourism Year”.207
197 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2540, p. 3.
198 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2003.
199 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2575; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1875; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2530, p. 4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2377; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2687.
200 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2529.
201 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2369.
202 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_037_2166.
203 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2683; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1823; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2439; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_023_1281.
204 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2688.
205 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2600.
206 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2352.
207 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1643, p.4-5.
45
Ilgaz, who was also a member of FIJET’s Directors’ Committee, gave importance to activities such as cleaning the city, preparing accommodation places, supporting domestic tourism, protecting and repairing our historical treasures, and teaching international etiquette to guides during her presidency (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 185).208 A 1971 brochure summarizes ATURJET’s activities until this date.209
Ilgaz continued her relations with the Society as honorary president after 1973 when she resigned from the presidency.210 Hasene Ilgaz also received a certificate of honor from FIJET. Ilgaz wrote that this certificate, which she recorded as a note in her private archive, was given in 1959.211 However, it is more likely that the certificate was given in 1969. Because ATURJET had not yet been established before 1966. Furthermore, Ilgaz, as the president of ATURJET, completed the necessary legal procedures for cooperation with FIJET in 1969. At the same time, in another note, she stated that she was given a diploma of appreciation by Romania and Bulgaria for representing Turkey in the best way in the Balkan congresses she attended as the founder and president of ATURJET, and gave 1959 as the date of this document.212 However, as we have noted above, the Balkan congress Ilgaz attended as president was the 14th FIJET congress held in Varna in September 1969.
FIJET also issued press cards for Hasene Ilgaz dated 1972 and 1974.213 Ilgaz was still an active member of the Association in 1983.214 Ilgaz, who was nominated for the board of directors in 1981,215 attended the “Descendants of Evliya Çelebi” dinner organized by ATURJET on October 23, 1993, and made a speech.216
2.1.1.6. Child Protection Agency217
One of the institutions Ilgaz has been active in since her years as a teacher is Child Protection Agency. In 1936, Ilgaz became the president of Fatih Child Protection Agency and made efforts to open guesthouses, libraries, and dispensaries for children. As an assistant at Eminönü District Child Protection Agency, Ilgaz pioneered the
208 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1643, p. 4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_048_2530, p. 5; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1875.
209 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2587.
210 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_024_1312.
211 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2778; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2458.
212 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2787, p. 5.
213 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1644; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1619.
214 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1740, p.7.
215 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_030_1742.
216 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2390.
217 Çocuk Esirgeme Kurumu
46
opening of a children’s library and a reading room, and in addition to these, she came up with the idea of opening a children’s guesthouse. Ilgaz, who expressed this idea on various occasions in various periods, participated in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Dr. İhsan Sami, the head of Eminönü Child Protection Agency, and followed the necessary work for the opening of the children’s guesthouse and garden. In this guesthouse, which was planned to be opened for the benefit of mothers who had to support their children and orphaned children, it was decided that children from the age of 5 to school age would be cared for free of charge from morning to night.218 In 1934, with the help of Governor Üstündağ, the Atik Ali Paşa madrasah was repaired and opened as a children’s dispensary and home. This health center aimed to protect a healthy person and a healthy child from dangerous diseases in the future.219
When Ilgaz went to Ankara as a deputy in 1943, she was appointed as a member of the Central Board of Child Protection Agency at the first congress held. According to the 1951 list of members of the General Central Board, Ilgaz remained a member of this board for some time after her parliamentary term.220 When the deputies on the board of directors had to go to their constituencies upon the decision of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye to hold elections, she was appointed as the second president of the organization. Judging from the congratulatory message sent to Ilgaz from the president of the organization, Ilgaz was appointed as the second president towards the end of 1948. When she became a member of the headquarters board of directors, she found a harmonious working environment with Dr. Fuat Umay, the founder and president of the Association, and focused on the urgent problems of the institution such as Keçiören Children’s Home, nurseries, the provision of a new building for the institution, and the income of the institution. In this process, Ilgaz also wanted to realize a project that was important to her. According to Ilgaz, children should be raised by foster families, not in child shelters. This idea did not receive support from the board of directors, and Umay accepted the idea but argued that it was not yet time (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 163).221
One of the issues Ilgaz dealt with the most during her time at the Ankara Child Protection Agency was the Keçiören Children’s Home. Because the children who grew
218 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2734, pp. 1-2 and 6
219 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2734, pp. 3-4 and 8
220 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1596.
221 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_012_786.
47
up in this institution and received education from neighboring schools were straying when they graduated, and especially the boys were disturbing the environment. As a solution, Ilgaz contacted the Ministry of Defense and requested that 12 boys who graduated from the school that year be enrolled in a military school (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 163-164).222 Ilgaz reports that 10 of these boys graduated from the schools they were sent to and were reintegrated into society. On November 11, 1948, Child Protection Agency Headquarters sent Ilgaz a letter expressing their gratitude and appreciation for her outstanding efforts (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 164).
Another effort at the Ankara Child Protection Agency was the establishment of a volunteer branch composed of child-loving families. The İlhan Sadak Nursery is the fruit of this initiative. Opened on June 6, 1949, this nursery was established with the efforts of İlhan Sadak, the wife of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and became a home for the children of working women living in Altındağ, Ankara. On the same date, the 50-bed Vehbi Koç Male Student Dormitory was opened to accommodate young people coming to Ankara for education (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 170).
The Bursa Child Protection Agency invited Ilgaz to Bursa to increase its revenues, open a day-care center for children in need and talk about infant formula. Ilgaz, who spent a week in Bursa dealing with children’s problems, took the initiative to solve the problems by forming an aid committee in this immigrant city (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 165).
Children and young people have always had a special place in Ilgaz’s life. With this motive, Ilgaz became a member of Green Crescent Society, which was founded on March 1, 1920, and became a public benefit association in 1934, to teach young people how to drink. Ilgaz participated in meetings and wrote articles on the subject, and gave necessary warnings to families (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 191).223
2.1.1.7. Charity Association224
Founded in 1928 by Dr. Fuat Umay, the president of Child Protection Agency, upon the gathering of cultured women who loved to help at Children’s Protection (Himaye-i Etfal) building, Children’s Protection Society Women’s Aid branch (Himaye-i Etfal Cemiyeti Kadınlar Yardım Kolu), as Ilgaz points out, started its activities by holding its first meeting on February 19. This society, which was formed
222 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, pp. 26-27.
223 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1669.
224 Yardım Sevenler Derneği
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as a branch of Child Protection Agency within a limited working area exclusive to Ankara, formed the basis of Charity Association (Yardım Sevenler Derneği), and with the efforts and activities of its members, it became an independent association on February 28, 1938, and in June 1941, with the decision of Council of Ministers, it was included among the associations working in the public interest (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 188, Ilgaz, 1991b, 64).225
The association started to work under the leadership of charity-loving women including Mevhibe İnönü, Reşide Bayar, Nevber Sevüktekin, Fıtnat Çakmak, Melahat Özbudun, Mediha Orbay, Kazım Özalp families, Ağaoğlu’s wife Sitare, her daughters Tezer Taşkıran, Süreyya Ağaoğlu, Belkıs Odman and Nimet Uybadın (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 188).226 At the first meeting, the Committee for the Bylaws was shaped with the suggestions of Attorney Süreyya Ağaoğlu, and accordingly, a committee consisting of the wife of Hakkı Şinasi Pasha, the wife of Mr. Celal, the Director of İş Bank, Nesteren, Neşe, Ayşe Asaf, Ayşe Seniha, Tezer Taşkıran, Süreyya Ağaoğlu, Seza Gülseren, the wife of Mr. Saki and the mother of Mr. Hikmet was formed.227
In her speech on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the foundation of Charity Association, Ilgaz told the founding adventure of the association and said that Fuat Umay had traveled from village to village after the War of Independence to identify orphaned children of martyrs and had established Child Protection Agency in Ankara in 1928 to take them under protection. According to Ilgaz, Umay later pioneered the establishment of Children’s Protection Society Women’s Aid Society (Himaye-i Etfal Kadınlar Yardım Cemiyeti), which was affiliated with Child Protection Agency, to protect the mothers of these children. After a while, the name of this branch, which began to be known as the “Poor Women’s Branch” among the public, was changed to Charity Association (Yardım Sevenler Cemiyeti) upon Atatürk’s directive to change it after he expressed his discomfort with the definition of “poor women” and continued on its way as an independent association on February 28, 1938 (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 64-65).228 Zehra Duydal, who was on the board of directors of the Association, gives the
225 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2669, p. 1; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1906, p. 5; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1866, p. 15.
226 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1866, p. 10; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_141, p. 3; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2488, p.2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1676, p.1.
227 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1906, p. 4.
228 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1866, pp. 4-6; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_141, p. 3; KEKBMV HIÖA, 1002_045_2669, p. 1; KEK HIÖA 10002_033_1906, p. 5; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1676, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_039_2210; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_038_2184.
49
name of the association as the Poor Women’s Aid Society (Yoksul Kadın Yardım Cemiyeti) and states that the name change was brought up at a meeting held at the Army House in Ankara on April 30, 1935. Upon the directive of Atatürk, who attended the meeting, the name of the Association was changed to Yardımsevenler (Duydal, 1967, p. 7).229 In a column she wrote in Yeni İstanbul Newspaper in 1957, Ilgaz also mentioned the founding process of the Association.230
Ilgaz defines the Association’s service areas as “training volunteer caregivers, providing aid in return for labor, opening workhouses, providing job opportunities, helping poor mothers before and after childbirth, protecting the elderly and the poor who are unable to work, caring for orphaned children in places where there are no relevant institutions, opening student dormitories and dispensaries”. The week of February 19, the anniversary of the founding of the Association, was also accepted as Charity Week, and the aid collected during this week was allocated for use in natural disasters such as fires, floods, earthquakes, etc. Food and clothing aid were also provided to the poor during this week.231 Again, as reflected in Ilgaz’s writing, the Ankara branch of Charity Association sent delegates to a course organized in Copenhagen between July 31 and August 25, 1956 to discuss the social services of Near Eastern countries and to ensure cooperation.232
The Istanbul Charity Association was founded in 1941 under the conditions of World War II. Ilgaz states that before the establishment of the Istanbul branch, she traveled from Istanbul to Ankara as a guest delegate from 1938 to 1941 with the guidance of Governor Kırdar, with whom she worked in the Provincial Administrative Committee (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 65).233 Ilgaz expressed the social and cultural problems of the cities in the headquarters congresses she attended for two years, presented the congress report to Governor Kırdar and the Party president Reşat Mimaroğlu, and advocated for the establishment of a branch of the Association in Istanbul.234 Thus, Hasene Ilgaz was entrusted with the task of establishing the Istanbul branch of the Association, and upon the authorization of Governor Lütfi Kırdar and Muhiddin
229 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1866, p. 7.
230 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_241.
231 KEKBMV HIÖA 1000_031_1779, pp. 2-3.
232 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_489.
233 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1676, p.2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, pp. 3-4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2430; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2488, p.2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2289, p. 1.
234 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2430, p. 1.
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Üstündağ, Ilgaz founded the Istanbul branch of Charity Association with the names they suggested. The board of directors in Istanbul is composed of Hayriye Kırdar, Dr. Semiramis Tezel, Naile Sağlam, Safiye Hüseyin Elbi, and Hasene Ilgaz.235
The first meeting of the Association was held in the large hall of the CHP Provincial building. Approximately 250 people from the military, businessmen, hospital chief physicians, teachers, university and social association representatives, charities, and the Red Crescent were invited to the meeting. The meeting, in which Halide Edip and her husband Adnan Adıvar were also present, lasted for 2 hours, and if the need to evacuate the city immediately due to the difficulties caused by the war conditions, issues such as the services to be provided for the elderly, the sick, women and children, the things to be done in houses, the ways to be followed in the evacuation of the Prison, hospital, Darülaceze, and the training of nurses and caregivers236 were discussed. Ilgaz both moderated the meeting and took notes (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 188-189; Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 66 and 70).237 In the 66th, 67th, and 68th issues of Yeni Defne Magazine, Ilgaz explains the purpose of the foundation of the Association as planning the organization of the program on how the city could be evacuated against a possible airplane attack due to World War II and states that the congress lasted 4 hours.238 Upon the request of the participants, Halide Edip and Hasene Ilgaz summarized the meeting in a report and sent it to the Governorship, Ministry of Interior, and Ministry of National Education. According to Ilgaz, the aid association functioned not only as a social association but also as an educational and training institution (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 66).239
From Ilgaz’s speech at the congress of the Association in 1964 (March 21, 1964), we learn that by this date the Association had opened branches in Fatih, Beykoz, Adalar, Beyoğlu, Beşiktaş, Bakırköy, Eminönü, Kadıköy, Silivri, Sarıyer, Üsküdar, Şişli, Şile and Yalova. In Ilgaz’s words, it was thus possible to reach those in need within their districts. From 1960 onwards, Ilgaz states that the Association attached importance to the procurement of buildings and that a building on Galipdede Street in Tünel was used as the clubhouse of the Association, that the clubhouses of Silivri,
235 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2289, p.4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2624; KEKBMV HIÖA 042_2430; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1712, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1676, pp. 2-3; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_038_2179; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2624.
236 At the meeting, it was decided to train 1700 nurses.
237 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1676, p.2-3; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p.3-4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2430; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_147; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1711
238 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_038_2179.
239 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1676, p.3.
51
Kadıköy, and Beşiktaş branches were also built, and that attempts were being made for Beykoz and others.240 To meet the needs of people from Çatalca who applied to her for help and a job, Ilgaz suggested opening a branch of Charity Association in Çatalca. According to Ilgaz, it would be possible to help low-income families here. Thereupon, with the help of the District Governorship, a clubhouse was established, and a business plan was prepared (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 171-172). Another important activity of the Istanbul Charity Association was to provide literacy, typing, and art courses to patients with tuberculosis through the Şişli Rehabilitation Center.241 In 1989, another activity pioneered by the Association was Apprenticeship School (Çıraklık Okulu), which Ilgaz mentioned in her column.242
Ilgaz was among those who provided aid to flood victims in Çukurova and Eskişehir during her parliamentary term through Charity Association.243 Ilgaz also took an interest in the reactivation of the Adana branch of Charity Association.244 Another aid activity that Ilgaz supported through Charity Association was the aid provided to the region after the Varto earthquake on August 19, 1966, in a large region surrounding Erzurum, Bingöl, and Muş. Ilgaz submitted a report to the CHP Party Assembly Presidency, in which she talked about both the aid they had provided in the region and what needed to be done for the development of the people of the region. 245
The contributions of Ilgaz and her friends to Charity Association were rewarded and Mediha Umay, Belkıs Odman, Reşide Bayar, Nilüfer Gürsoy, Melahat Özbudun, Fıtnat Çakmak from Ankara; Hasene Ilgaz, İffet Halim Oruz, Handan Öniş, Nimet Uybadın and Nevber Sevültekin from Istanbul were granted honorary membership by the Association.246
2.1.1.8. Turkish Women’s Union (TKB)247
In April 1923, under the leadership of Nezihe Muhiddin, the Women’s Party (Kadınlar Fırkası) was founded to have a presence in political life, but after the
240 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1795, pp. 1-3; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2669, pp. 3-4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_277; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1866, pp. 105-106.
241 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_288.
242 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_024_1318.
243 KEKBMV HIÖA, 10002_004_317; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2675; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1569; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1563; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1564.
244 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_448; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_437.
245 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2130.
246 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1866, p. 12; KEKBMV HIÖA 100002_044_2624; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2779; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2524.
247 Türk Kadınlar Birliği (TKB)
52
disapproval of the elites of the Republic, who thought that it was not yet time for women to take part in politics, the Women’s Party continued on its way as the Turkish Women’s Union in 1924 under the presidency of Nezihe Muhiddin (Davaz, 2014, pp. 148-149). In 1927, Nezihe Muhiddin was removed from the Union’s presidency when she again attempted to include women in political life (Ünal, 2016, vol. 9, p. 44, p. 536), and Latife Bekir, who would serve as president between 1927 and 1935, was appointed in her place (Davaz, 2014, p. 361). The TKB, of which Hasene Ilgaz was an active member, was in intensive relations with the international women’s movement between 1926 and 1935 and was closed down after the 1935 Congress upon Atatürk’s request because Turkish women had obtained all the rights they wanted to have (Davaz, 2014, p. 178, pp. 367-368, pp. 746-749; Ünal, 2016, p. 555). According to Davaz’s quote from Oruz, after the establishment of the People’s Houses, Atatürk set the goal of working together for the Republican revolutions in these institutions, regardless of men and women. In this context, Davaz argues that Oruz and Hasene Ilgaz’s friendship was shaped by their belief in the closure of the TKB (Davaz, 2014, p. 745). Judging by Ilgaz’s approach to the declaration of 1975 as the International Women’s Year years later, Davaz seems to be right in this assessment (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 200).
TKB was accepted as a member in 1926 at the Paris Congress of the International Union and participated in the 1929 Berlin and 1933 Marseille Conferences (Davaz, 2014, p. 159). Hasene Ilgaz was among the 12 substitute members to represent the TKB at the 12th International Women’s Union Congress held in Istanbul in 1935 with the initiative of the TKB, and Ilgaz was assigned to two commissions, including the “Commission on the Equality of Women and Men before the Law” and “Commission on the Equality of Women and Men in Business” (Davaz, 2014, 361; 418; 453).248 Without mentioning the commissions formed by the TKB, Ilgaz stated that she provided all kinds of assistance to the congress until the end of the congress and that she served as the government representative in this congress, which took place at the Şale Mansion on April 18-24, 1935 with the participation of 30 foreign state representatives. According to the information given by Ilgaz, the thesis of the congress was “Unity of rights for women / Peace for humanity” (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 98).249
248 The Women’s Library and Information Centre Foundation Necile Tevfik Private Archive (KEKBMV NTÖA) 10046_002_111; KEKBMV NTÖA 10046_001_011
249 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2788.
53
Ilgaz argues that with the establishment of the Women’s Union on April 13, 1923, the women’s movement began even before Atatürk’s revolutions and that although this did not mean active resistance as in the West, it prepared the ground. Ilgaz also evaluates the struggle of the women’s movement through the press, which started with the Tanzimat and gained momentum with the Second Constitutional Period until the establishment of the TKB, and the attitudes towards women of the period. In this context, Ilgaz mentions Fatma Aliye’s Association for Aid (Cemiyet-i İmdadiye) in 1908, and Halide Edip’s Women’s Improvement Association (Teali-i Nisvan Cemiyeti) in 1909. She reminds us that in 1912250 Nezihe Muhiddin founded the women’s branch of the Navy Society, and in 1913 Ulviye Mevlan founded the Association for Defence of Rights of Women (Müdafaa-i Hukuk-ı Nisvan Cemiyeti), and in the same period, Kadıköy Association for Supporting the Poor (Kadıköy Fukaraperver Cemiyeti) and Society for the Employment of Islamic Women (İslam Kadınlarını Çalıştırma Cemiyeti)251 were founded. Stating that the first period of TKB was established in 1924 with the support of Atatürk’s sister Makbule Atadan and under the leadership of Naciye Refhan, Latife Bekir, Lamia Refik, Mediha Muzaffer, and others, Ilgaz describes TKB as “the association ... to which my generation rushed to serve the most and joined its ranks”. Referring to other associations established then, Ilgaz argues that the first country in the world to reform women were Turkey and Atatürk (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 99).252
On April 13, 1949, the Turkish Women’s Union was re-established in Ankara its headquarters. Ilgaz asserts that a speech she made in the parliament in 1946 was influential in this second term of the TKB’s founding, which was formed under the leadership of a group of women including Mevhibe İnönü, Latife Bekir, Lamia Refik, Kamile Erim, Mediha Eldem, Mebrure Aksoley, and that three female deputies (Mebrure Aksoley, Dr. Makbule Dıblan, Latife Bekir) who listened to this speech took part in the establishment of the second term of the TKB.253 The Istanbul branch of the second period was established one month after the establishment of the Ankara branch with the initiatives of İffet Halim Oruz, Süreyya Ağaoğlu, Mihri Pektaş, Efsayiş Suat,
250 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_071, p.3. In this note, Ilgaz gives the date 1902 for the establishment of the Women’s branch of the Navy Society. However, the Society in question was not founded in 1902, but in 1912. Ilgaz must have mistakenly written 1902.
251 The original name of the association was Society for the Employment of Ottoman Muslim Women (Osmanlı Kadınlarını Çalıştırma Cemiyeti).
252 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_145, pp. 2-3; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_071, pp.2-4. Ilgaz mentions the names of Naciye Refhan and Mediha Muzaffer in the establishment of TKB. These names, which also appear in her notes on the subject, have not been encountered in studies on TKB.
253 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_090_ p. 8.
54
Safiye Hüseyin Elbi, Dr. Pakize Tarzi, Seniha Rauf, Aliye Esad. In February 1950, branches were opened in Izmir, and Elazığ, Diyarbakır, Malatya, Urfa, and Kayseri with the initiative of Mebrure Aksoley and Makbule Dıblan (Davaz, 2014, pp. 781-784 and 786).
According to Davaz, who argues that Oruz changed her attitude as a result of the events that developed after the Second World War, the Kadın Newspaper, which was published under Oruz’s leadership between 1947 and 1979, “acted as the representative of Turkish Women’s Union, which was re-established in 1949, and Oruz as its leader” (Davaz, 2014, pp. 769-770). Davaz claims that at this point, Oruz took refuge in the excuse that the rights granted in theory were not realized in practice (Davaz, 2014, p. 773). As a matter of fact, Oruz also served as the president of the Istanbul headquarters of Turkish Women’s Union, which was re-established on April 13, 1949, with its headquarters in Ankara to “protect the rights granted to women by the Turkish Revolution” (Davaz, 2014, p. 786).
In 1960, the Congress of the World Council of Women was held in Istanbul. The preparations for this council and congress, which took place in Turkey with the participation of the Women’s Solidarity Union, a member of the Council, are reflected in Ilgaz’s writing. Referring to the main commissions of the congress convened under the theme “Women and Family in a Developing World”, Ilgaz evaluated the program as a good resource that makes it possible for everyone to benefit from it.254
The year 1975 was declared “Women’s Year” by the United Nations, and within this framework, a two-stage plan was envisaged in the national, regional, and international arena for the periods 1975-1980 and 1980-1985, and it was requested to implement a work program that would include measures, recommendations and warnings by the honor and dignity of women in political, economic, cultural, legal and social aspects. Ilgaz mentions two events that took place in this context. The first of these was the congress organized by Ankara Branch of the Association of University Women on December 5-8, 1975 with the participation of more than 1000 members of 27 women’s associations, including the Istanbul Social Services Federation. The congress evaluated the reports prepared by the commissions on education, health, culture, arts, economy, and law in accordance with the plan envisaged by the UN (Ilgaz,
254 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002 _025_1418.
55
1981, p. 200).255 The second was the “Women’s Problems in Turkey” symposium held on April 28-29, 1976. In this symposium, which had an international character, women’s problems were addressed in the fields of health, education, social, economic, cultural, and legal issues as one of the methods recommended by the International Organization of which Turkey was a member (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 72). In addition, we witness that Ilgaz sent her works to the exhibition organized in Bangkok within the framework of the “International Women’s Year” upon the request of Müjgan Cunbur, Director General of the National Library.256
Ilgaz criticized the declaration of 1975 as the year of women and found it unfair that in the conditions of that day, when there were social problems, a restless, rebellious youth, and heads of family who did not know how to provide for their families, in this complex world, women were working for their wishes and preparing law proposals, devoting the power of motherhood and woman to themselves, without addressing these social problems (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 200). Furthermore, according to her, these problems were not issues that can be solved by women’s initiative alone. Society should recognize its responsibilities as men and women and work together for brighter days (Ilgaz, 1981, p.201). Another noteworthy approach of Ilgaz in this context is her assertion that the notes and minutes taken and cultural, political, and social issues discussed at the World Women’s Congress, (held for the first time in Turkey in 1935), were not properly analyzed and put into practice. Ilgaz considered these discussions to be of a nature that could change the course of the world, as a matter of fact, the decisions are taken that day at this congress, which Turkish women attended having won the right to vote and be elected, aimed for a happier, more advanced world (Banoğlu, 1991, p. 45, p. 5). Ilgaz expressed the same view in her notes.257 Davaz also refers to these 20 decisions taken at the end of the 1935 Congress and draws attention to Nezihe Muhittin and Sabiha Sertel’s critical attitude towards Congress (Davaz, 2014, pp. 732-740).
In sum, Ilgaz was active in the Women’s Union in both periods. When women were granted the right to vote and be elected in 1934, Ilgaz made the first speech at the Women’s Union on this decision, which was considered a great victory for Turkish women, and in 1935 she was among the delegates of the International Women’s Congress. In 1958, again at a conference organized by the Women’s Union on “child
255 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2739.
256 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2077; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2071.
257 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002;001_145, p.7; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_071, p.5.
56
mortality”, Ilgaz shared her views and thoughts on the “Children’s Issue in Turkey”, a subject she was interested in whenever she had the opportunity.258
2.1.1.9. Turkish Hearing and Speech Rehabilitation Foundation259
The purpose of the establishment of the Turkish Hearing and Speech Rehabilitation Foundation, which was decided to be established by the Turkish Deaf and Mute Society on April 21, 1973, at the Istanbul Provincial General Assembly Hall as a gift for the 50th anniversary of the Republic, is stated as “to solve the problems of hearing and speech impaired citizens, to save them from being mere consumers, and to ensure their development in the social and cultural fields”. On November 22, 1974, during the formation process of the Foundation, whose official deeds giving benefactors the right to become trustees came into force, Ilgaz and İffet Halim Oruz were invited to join the board of trustees of the newly established foundation in line with the decisions of the Divan Board of December 30, 1972, and the General Assembly of March 18, 1973.260 Upon the invitation, Ilgaz and İffet Halim Oruz took part in the board of trustees of TİV. At the same time, Oruz served as vice president and Ilgaz as a consultant.261
On October 15, 1973, the Association completed the official procedures necessary to become a foundation and held its first general assembly meeting on October 25, 1974.262 Ilgaz and Oruz were also assigned to the social committee, one of the three committees established by the board of directors on December 18, 1974.263 On January 29, 1977, at the Board of Trustees meeting, Oruz was appointed as acting president and Ilgaz as advisor.264 Ilgaz, who also took part in the organizing committee of the Traditional Queen of the Deaf and Crown ball programs organized by the Foundation,265 was among the members of the Honorary Board of Trustees in 1987.266 For her 20 years of service between 1962 and 1982, TİV thanked Ilgaz with an honorary gift.267
258 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_491.
259 Türkiye İşitme ve Konuşma Rehabilitasyon Vakfı (TİV)
260 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_024_1354; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_024_1362.
261 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_022_1197.
262 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_024_1362.
263 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_024_1352.
264 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_024_1364.
265 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_022_1207; 10002_022_1216.
266 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_024_1365.
267 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2786, p. 4.
57
According to Ilgaz, who made a speech on behalf of the Association on a television program on the occasion of the Week of the Deaf, the week of May 20-26 has been celebrated as the “Week of the Deaf” by the Ministry of Interior since 1974. In this speech, Ilgaz gave a history of the education of deaf and mute children and invited citizens to support them.268 In the 5-6th issue of Yeni Defne Magazine, Ilgaz mentioned the Association’s efforts to meet the education and training needs of the deaf and mute through the rehabilitation center established by the Association and wrote that the donations, no matter how little or how much, serve this purpose by growing like an avalanche.269
2.1.1.10. Turkish Aeroplane League270
Turkish aviation had a special place in Ilgaz’s memories. As we have mentioned before, when Ilgaz was a girl of 12 years old, she experienced the social excitement at the event organized with her father to send off Turkish aviators to Egypt and witnessed leaving the whole country in mourning the news that the planes crashed shortly after take-off and the pilots were martyred. Perhaps due to the impact of this memory on Ilgaz, she worked within Aeroplane League (Tayyare Cemiyeti: Turkish Aeronautical Association since 1935) for many years and was appointed as the president of Fatih District Aeronautical Association. Although we cannot find any information about the date of her appointment in the documents in her archive, we learn from a letter was sent to her that she was the president of Fatih Aeroplane League (Fatih Tayyare Cemiyeti) in 1939-1940s, but she resigned from the presidency due to her duties within the Party.271 The aviation exhibition opened under her leadership at Şehremini People’s House to explain the importance of aviation to the public was a first in Turkey (Ilgaz, 1991a, p. 31). During the same period, on behalf of the Turkish Aeronautical Association, she addressed the public at the ceremony commemorating the Aviation Martyrs on May 15, 1940 (Cumhuriyet, 16 May 1940, p. 5).272 In 1942, Ilgaz also made a speech at the commemoration ceremony, and another activity she carried out within the organization was to provide income for the organization’s budget through a member aid campaign. Ilgaz ensured that every household donated a little or a lot to the organization and was given a receipt in return. She proposed that the factories in
268 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2445; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2630.
269 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_037_2153.
270 Türk Tayyare Cemiyeti
271 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_121.
272 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1585; KEKBMV HIÖA 041_2355.
58
Zeytinburnu and Kazlıçeşme donate to the organization to protect their capital (Son Posta,16 May 1942, p. 6; Ilgaz, 1981, p. 190).273
The first women’s branch of the Aeronautical Association was also established under her leadership in the Fatih district.274 According to Ilgaz, all her efforts attracted the attention of the Provincial Headquarters, and the president of Turkish Aeroplane League (Türk Tayyare Cemiyeti) İsmail Hakkı Başak, asked her to establish the same organization in the province. Hakkıye Emin was appointed as the head of the women’s branch of the Istanbul Aeroplane League. When the desired success could not be achieved under the presidency of Ms. Hakkıye, the presidency was offered to Ilgaz, but Ilgaz, who thought that it would not be appropriate to replace Ms. Hakkıye, rejected the offer. After a while, this women’s branch was unfortunately dissolved (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 190-191). According to a newspaper clipping in her archive, Hakkıye Emin was the President of Turkish Aeronautical Association on July 13, 1935.275 In another periodical, we see that the women’s branch of the Istanbul branch of Turkish Aeronautical Association planned a women’s rally in Taksim on June 29, 1935, to donate an aircraft to Turkish Aeronautical Association and that Hasene Ilgaz took part in the commission formed for the organization of the rally (Cumhuriyet, 14 June 1935, p. 7).
2.1.1.11 Turkish Navy Society276
The Navy Society was founded on July 6, 1909, with the proceeds going entirely to the Navy and the community donated to the Society with great zeal. With the donations, the latest system torpedo destroyer, two large battleships, and 5 transport ships were purchased.277 Ilgaz, who took part in the second establishment of the Society, which was closed down after a while,278 accepted to join the Social Services Committee of the Istanbul Branch of Turkish Navy Society at the meeting held on March 11, 1966 and contributed to the Society by organizing its work program (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 191).279 At the same time that she was the president of Istanbul Charity Association, Ilgaz also assumed the presidency of the social branch of Turkish Navy
273 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_506; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_023_1255.
274 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_157
275 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1562.
276 Türk Donanma Cemiyeti
277 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1783, p.2.
278 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_192.
279 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_111; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_117.
59
Society (1967).280 On March 20, 1968, Ilgaz was granted a Permanent Honorary Membership in the Board of Directors of the Turkish Navy Society for her services on behalf of the Association since its foundation (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 80-81).281 We see that Ilgaz was elected as the president of Turkish Navy Society at the General Honor Board meeting held in July 1969.282 Ilgaz also served as a member of the Honorary Board of the Society (1971-1972)283 and as the chairman of the general assembly.284
Ilgaz, who contributed as a jury member to the Navy Society’s inter-school painting competition,285 was instrumental in raising 20 million from the public through the provision of a clubhouse286 in Yalova. In a letter dated 1975, Ilgaz was informed about the latest situation of the Yalova branch of the Navy Society and asked for her help in reorganizing the branch.287 The Navy Society, which later became a foundation, also organized events commemorating great sailors (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 191). On September 27, 1967, Ilgaz made a speech at a program on Barbaros Hayrettin Pasha organized on the occasion of Naval Forces Day.288 She was asked to speak on the radio for the Society’s badge campaign.289 We learn that this permission could not be obtained through a letter sent from the Society.290
2.1.1.12. Turkish Cypriot Cultural Association291 and Hasene Ilgaz
The association efforts of Turkish Cypriots, which started in 1932 as Cyprus Turkish Student Union (Kıbrıs Türk Talebe Birliği) and then in 1946 as Association of Cypriot Schools Graduates (Kıbrıs Okullarından Yetişenler Derneği), continued with the merger of Turkish Cypriot Cultural Association established in Ankara in 1948292 and Turkish Cypriot Cultural and Aid Society (Kıbrıs Türk Kültür ve Yardım Cemiyeti) in Istanbul. To support the social and cultural activities of Turkish Cypriots living in Turkey and those who came to Turkey for different reasons, these
280 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2097; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2096; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2098; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_112.
281 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2101; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2776, p. 2
282 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_ 002_118; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_116; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2088; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2784, p.2.
283 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_034_1958; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2089; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2776.
284 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2550.
285 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_113; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2100.
286 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2515.
287 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_!816; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2092.
288 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2099; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1792.
289 KEKBMV 10002_036_2093.
290 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2094; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2095
291 Kıbrıs Türk Kültür Derneği
292 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1707, p. 1
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two associations, which were united under a single roof with the headquarters in Ankara, were renamed Turkish Cypriot Cultural Association in 1954 (https://www.kibristkd.org.tr/pg_15_tarihce).
This association had a special place in Ilgaz’s life. It was through this association that Ilgaz came into contact with Turkish Cypriots on the occasion of a trip she took with a group of teachers and İffet Halim Oruz in 1948. The Cyprus trip was a turning point for Ilgaz. Upon her return, Ilgaz presented her observations to İnönü in the form of a report, and the social and cultural ties she established with Turkish Cypriots continued until the end of her life. Ilgaz was the honorary president of Turkish Cypriot Cultural Association.293 As the Association’s honorary president, Ilgaz organized a dinner program on July 27, 1949, in honor of Cypriot Turkish teachers who came to Turkey from Cyprus.294 On January 7, 1950, she assumed the presidency of Congress at the general assembly meeting. According to the information provided on the official web page of the Association, Ilgaz expressed her thoughts at this congress, and while appreciating the successful activities of the Association, she mentioned the poor condition of primary school students in Cyprus and asked for closer attention to be paid to these children. Ilgaz also expressed her thanks to the Ministry of National Education for the Evening Art School (Akşam Sanat Okulu) to be opened in Cyprus and proposed that the Association conveyed their gratitude to the Ministry of Interior for the close attention shown to 105 teachers who visited Turkey in the summer of 1949 (https://www.kibristkd.org.tr/pg_15_tarihce).
According to the invitation to the Extraordinary General Assembly meeting sent by Turkish Cypriot Cultural Association in 1988, Ilgaz was still a member of the Association at that time.295
2.1.2. Hasene Ilgaz’s Social Assistance Activities
When we look at the social activities organized under Ilgaz’s chairmanship or initiatives, we see that Ilgaz has been instrumental in many activities to meet the needs of society, especially natural disasters. Ilgaz was also a pioneer in the restoration of places famous for their historical and natural resources. After the 1953 Gönen
293 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2747; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_305.
294 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_013_862.
295 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_097.
61
earthquake, 1966 Varto earthquake,296 and 1948 Adana and Eskişehir floods,297 Ilgaz, who made efforts in aid organizations and delivery of aid to disaster victims, also helped to meet the needs of immigrants in Turkey, especially immigrants in Edirne and Konya. She undertook many initiatives such as the renovation of the Yalova thermal springs famous for their healing waters (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 23-25)298 and the Grand Bazaar (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 35), the construction of shelters for those in need who came to the city for treatment or to find work, and many similar initiatives. All these activities can be the subject of a separate study. Here, we have included a few of the relief efforts that she presided over or pioneered.
2.1.2.1. Eastern Relief Committee299
Due to the shortage of both animal feed and human food in the Erzurum and Kars regions due to drought, and the fact that the income of the peasants, including the rich and the landlords, decreased by 950 liras a year, an aid campaign for the East was brought to the agenda, and an aid committee was formed through the Governorship of Istanbul. Ilgaz participated in the aid campaign, which started in Istanbul under the leadership of Governor Refik Tulga, upon Jale Tulga’s invitation. With Ilgaz’s proposal, it was decided that the distribution of the aid would be done by the members of the committee to ensure that the aid reached those in real need, and a separate committee was formed to sort the collected aid according to the needs of the villages to be visited in light of the information sent from the Governorships of Erzurum and Kars. The Eastern Relief Committee departed for Erzurum with two wagons of animal feed and three wagons of clothing and food. Ilgaz made a short speech at the station before the departure and expressed her gratitude to everyone who supported the organization.
The Relief Committee headed by Ilgaz departed from Istanbul on January 25, 1962, on the Eastern Express from Haydarpaşa, and arrived in Erzurum on January 29, 1962. On the same day, in a meeting with the Governor of Erzurum and the relevant officials, it was decided that aid would be provided to Erzurum, Kars, and Ağrı. After distributing aid from village to village in Erzurum and Hasankale, the Relief Committee moved to Kars and Ağrı, where it reached those in need from village to village. Starting
296 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_110; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2130; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2303;
297 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1563; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2675; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1569; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_350; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2622
298 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2608; pp. 2-3; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_322.
299 Doğu’ya Yardım Komitesi
62
on January 25th and continuing until March 3rd, Ilgaz, as the head of the Eastern Relief Contact Branch (Doğu’ya Yardım Temas Kolu), recorded in her notes the happiness she felt in fulfilling yet another task. Within the framework of this aid, 362 villages were reached, and 409 tons of foodstuffs were distributed. The money collected in cash was also sent to Ankara and 25 thousand children were helped (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 183-184; Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 87).300
The aid campaign to the East had also a broad repercussions in the press. Even Hür Söz newspaper, one of the local presses in Cyprus, carried this aid campaign in its columns in its issue dated January 30, 1962.301 With the announcements made in newspapers and on the radio, both the activities such as concerts to collect aid, and the details of the aid were shared with the public. Mücahit Beşer from Cumhuriyet, Necmi Onur from Milliyet, Aydoğan İlter from Tercüman, Yalçın Kalkavan and Okan Çeliker from Hür Vatan, and Doğan Pürsüz from Akşam were among the journalists who participated in this trip.302 In her report dated February 15, 1962, Ilgaz analyzed the problems of the East and drew a road map for the aid to be provided.303 On March 13, 1962, CHP Secretary General İsmail Rüştü Arsel sent her a letter expressing his gratitude for her report and her contributions to the East.304
2.1.2.2. Gönen Earthquake
After the earthquake in Gönen in April 1953, Ilgaz ensured that children whose schools were damaged by the earthquake were brought to Istanbul to complete the school year. For this purpose, Ilgaz first contacted the governorships and the National Education directorates of Istanbul, Balıkesir, Bursa, and the PTAs. Ilgaz chose Moda Primary School as the center and cooperated with the PTAs of the districts. The government was only able to assist in providing ferries for the transportation of children from Gönen to Istanbul. 253 children305 were picked up from their addresses in Gönen
300 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1598; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1599; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1600; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2620, pp.1-2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2499; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2552; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_039; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_459
301 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_023_1282.
302 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2552; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2620, p. 1; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_039, pp. 2-3; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_308; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_442
303 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_052.
304 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2417
305 In her book titled Cumhuriyet'te İz bırakanlar 10. Yıl Kuşağı, Firdevs Gümüşoğlu gives the number of children as 350 and Aslı Davaz as 330 (Gümüşoğlu, 2001, p. 21; Davaz, 2014, p. 434). Ilgaz recorded the number of children as 333 in her biography in her private archive, 322 in the note she took on the occasion of the Gönen Municipality’s invitation to the Ömer Seyfettin Commemoration program in 1993,
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with the initiative of Hasene Ilgaz, the PTA President of Moda Primary School, brought to Istanbul and handed over to the PTAs. The children who were sent to Kadıköy, Beykoz, Fatih, Eminönü, Beşiktaş, Bakırköy, Eyüp, Üsküdar and other districts were taken care of by their host families for three months and the sick and injured children were treated. At the end of three months, children who received their report cards were taken to Gönen and handed over to their families with the same care (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 93-94; Ergun, 1997, p. 116).306
2.1.2.3. Immigrants and Edirne Immigrant Association
Another issue that Ilgaz was interested in was migration, especially during and after World War II. Ilgaz helped the construction of an immigrant waiting building near Edirne with 20000 liras provided through Istanbul Charity Association, which she founded, for the accommodation of immigrants in Istanbul and Edirne, and provided financial and moral support from the Governorship of Ankara and some provincial governorships. Ilgaz, who conveyed these to the Governorship of Edirne, also received many letters of thanks from Edip Ağaoğulları, the President of the Edirne Migrants Association, for the care and placement works she closely followed.307 In addition, Ilgaz, as the second president of Child Protection Agency Headquarters, shared her observations on the situation of migrants in Edirne and Istanbul with the Ministry of Agriculture in a letter dated October 24, 1950.308 In October 1959, Ilgaz visited Turkish immigrants deported from Bulgaria in Edirne and shared her observations and thoughts in her column in Ulus newspaper.309
Immigrants in Istanbul and Konya, who were aware of Ilgaz's initiatives for Edirne immigrants, also asked for her support in some matters. Ilgaz employed 30 migrants in Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye, of which she was the director. Child Protection Agency assumed responsibility for the needs of migrant children and the solution to their problems, and all kindergartens were opened
353 in another note in her private archive about the Gönen earthquake, and 233 on pages 3 and 4 of the same note (KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 19; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2784, pp. 1 and 3-4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2784, pp. and 3-4; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2736, p. 1). In an interview with Selma Yazıoğlu in 1955, published in Resimli Yirminci Asır Mecmuası, she stated that 145 children resided with their families (KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2637).
306 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2736; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, pp. 18-20; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2496.
307 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1701.
308 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_012_783.
309 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_451.
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to migrant children. In addition to these children’s health, care, and food needs, their education was also undertaken by Child Protection Agency (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 157). 310
Konya Municipality invited her to Konya in 1950 due to the immigrant issue. Konya was one of the 40 cities where the government decided to resettle immigrants. In Konya, it was planned to settle 30000 families in 11 villages, but only 7 villages were settled. Ilgaz visited the immigrant villages and identified their needs, and ensured that those from Konya, who made a living from animal husbandry, contacted the Ministry of Agriculture and the Faculty of Agriculture in Ankara. She also provided that the gift packages prepared in Ankara and Istanbul were sent to the governorship of Konya to be given to the migrants (Ilgaz, 1981, p.141).
2.1.2.4 Assistance to Neighborhoods without a Soup Kitchen311
Ilgaz reached out to those in need with the help of her wealthy friends who believed in, trusted, and loved her. One of these was the organization she organized to meet the need for food in neighborhoods that did not have a soup kitchen. Ilgaz, who worked with Vecihe İlmen and a few friends to deliver food to low-income families, made the same effort for the Red Crescent when the Red Crescent soup kitchens were opened (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 180).
Ilgaz conducted a study on the income status of the residents of the Kocamustafapaşa neighborhood where she was born and grew up and applied to the Red Crescent to find a solution to the difficulties of the people of the neighborhood, who had not yet overcome the difficulties of World War I and the War of Independence, due to World War II. Ilgaz ensured that a soup kitchen was opened close to the courtyard of the Sümbül Efendi Mosque, and the people of the neighborhood received the food they needed every day (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 180-181; Davaz, 2014, p. 434).
2.1.3. Other Works Pioneered by Ilgaz
In addition to her charity campaigns, Ilgaz took the initiative to meet the needs of various elements of society, such as students and workers, especially in terms of housing. The construction of a girls’ dormitory and an employment center, her contributions to state libraries, and her efforts to improve the cultural quality of Şile cloth, a local value of Şile, are particularly worth mentioning.
310 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1701.
311 Aş Ocağı
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2.1.3.1. Dormitories for Male and Female Students
In 1940, Ilgaz, curious about the housing conditions of female students coming from Anatolia, conducted research in Kumkapı, Nişanca, Beyazıt, Aksaray, and Fatih and prepared a report after 3 months of work. Ilgaz identified 300 young girls in need of shelter and met with Governor Kırdar. Ilgaz brought the issue to the Party Executive Board and her work was accepted and the necessary preparations for the dormitory began, a place in Cağaloğlu was rented, renovated, and opened on April 22, 1940, with Ilgaz’s speech (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 60-61).312
In her opening speech, Ilgaz stated that although she knew that the dormitory was not enough, this initiative was a pioneering start and shared her belief that this dormitory would pave the way for the opening of new dormitories. Ilgaz also stated that in return for this opportunity, they expected the young people to be patriotic, moral individuals who would serve the country (Cumhuriyet, April 23, 1940, p. 5).313 Ilgaz reported that they also received letters of thanks from families in Anatolia for this initiative, which had a great resonance. (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 61).
Another effort of Ilgaz in this direction was opening a dormitory for male students. Young people who came to Istanbul for higher education applied to the Party when they were in a difficult situation and contacted Ilgaz when she was in charge of the social branch of the CHP. Ilgaz met with Governor Lütfi Kırdar and the General Directorate of Foundations to help these young people who asked for help with their clothing, books, and shelter needs. Ilgaz pioneered the restoration of the dormant complexes in Fatih Mosque and allocated them for the accommodation of these young people and thought of ways to meet their every need. Ilgaz made an agreement with a shoe repair shop to repair the shoes of the young people, with barbers for their haircuts and with a bathhouse for their bathing. Ilgaz even ensured that the young people went to the movies with the help of the Ipekis, and she says that 140 young people got jobs and went to the cities where they were assigned. (Ilgaz, 1981, p.58-59).314
Ilgaz has always been a follower of the dormitory issue that young people need for shelter, and when she was Çorum Deputy, she mediated in the National Education
312 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_390; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 10; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_021_1128; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2495, pp. 1-2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2293, pp. 1-2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_020_1089.
313 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_021_1128, p. 2.
314 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2293, p.2-5.
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Commission to address the demands of the students and brought up the search for new opportunities for new needs.315
2.1.3.2. Employment and Labor Dormitory
Ilgaz also endeavored to provide a well-maintained and modern building that would meet the accommodation needs of people coming to Istanbul to find work. She shared her ideas for this initiative with the CHP Provincial Executive Board, which she deemed necessary for the order and public order of the city as the conditions of the Second World War increased migration to the city (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 139-140; Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 45-47). Finding support for her idea, Ilgaz was able to secure the allocation of a building in the vicinity of Nuruosmaniye for this purpose as a result of her meetings with Mayor Lütfi Kırdar and the General Director of Foundations. Ilgaz, who received help from the municipality for all the renovations and preparations, followed the work with the meticulousness of a woman and formed an Executive Committee with the participation of her friends who helped her in this process.
The opening day was announced in the newspapers and Ilgaz made a speech while cutting the ribbon. Ilgaz expressed the purpose of the dormitory and that it was born out of necessity, and also responded to questions. Ilgaz took care of the dormitory until she became a member of parliament in 1943, but when she went to Ankara as Hatay’s deputy, there were problems in the administration of the dormitory. When the Ministry of Labour was established, the dormitory was transferred to the employment bureau under the Ministry and continued to exist for another four years (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 46-47; Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 57-58.).316 On another note she kept about the dormitory, Ilgaz states that the dormitory was closed in 1943 when she went to Ankara as a Hatay deputy and the Ministry of Labour was established.317
2.1.3.3. Aid to State Libraries
One of Ilgaz’s areas of interest was the identification of historical and manuscript works in Anatolia. Ilgaz made it her duty to convey the manuscripts in the places she visited in Anatolia to the authorities. Ilgaz had many manuscripts collected from Bursa, Afyon, Ankara, Eskişehir, Hatay, Çorum, Adana, and İstanbul and ensured that they were sent to the National Education Library, and Mesut Zeytinoğlu’s family
315 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1371.
316 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2528; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 8; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2495, p. 2.
317 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2528.
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library in Eskişehir Tavşanlı was transferred to Ministry of National Education. The library, which contained some 10000 works, about 1000 volumes of which were manuscripts, was made available to the public through Ilgaz's efforts (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 64-65).
Ilgaz also donated her works to various libraries, as mentioned in this thesis’s first chapter. Ilgaz (Ilgaz,.1981, p 223; Davaz, 2014, p 433),318 who donated 27 years of her articles in Kadın Newspaper to the Beyazıt State Library in hardcover, was given a certificate of appreciation for her donations to the library’s 100th anniversary.319 On another note in her private archive, she writes that she donated 97 books, magazines, and newspapers to the Beyazıt State Library.320 She also noted that she granted 700 books to the Provincial Public Library on December 23, 1982. Among these books, there are works such as magazines, TBMM minutes, Municipality Yearbook, and Compilation Dictionary.321
Donating her 5-year collection of Çorum Newspaper to the Kariye Museum Library (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 222), Ilgaz also granted her estate consisting of books, notebooks, newspaper clippings, greeting cards, letters, working notes, and speech texts to the Women’s Library (Davaz, 2014, p. 433).
2.1.3.4. Modernization of Şile Handicrafts
Ilgaz’s interest in Şile began with the people of Şile applying to the provincial chairmanship of the Party in times of need. During her years as a member of parliament, it was the people of Şile who sent the most frequent letters from Istanbul to Ankara. Ilgaz, who served as the head of the social branch of the Party, acted as an intermediary for the transportation of charcoal and stovewood to the city, which was the livelihood of the people of Şile during the Second World War. Ilgaz also helped them purchase small looms and hyphens from Sümerbank and pioneered the modernization of Şile handicrafts.
In November 1960, Ilgaz contacted the Institute of Maturation for the modernization of Şile handicrafts and organized a visit to Şile with the Institute’s painting, sewing, and embroidery teachers. A meeting and exhibition were organized in Şile with the contributions of the District Governor of Şile and the branch of Charity Association.
318 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2623; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2585.
319 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2687, p. 3; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2585.
320 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2399, p.2.
321 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2585; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2623.
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The Maturation teachers participating in this program took samples of the handicrafts on display, developed new designs, and delivered them to Ilgaz.
Ilgaz, who ensured that two female students from Şile received 15 days of education at the Maturation Institute, pioneered the emergence of Şile’s current products with this initiative and helped the development of Şile. In Ilgaz’s words, these were sold as “an invention of Hasene Ilgaz, a work of art of the Maturation Institute” (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 108; Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 63-64).322
2.2. Her Cultural Activities
It is possible to evaluate Ilgaz’s cultural activities within two main frameworks. In this context, Ilgaz’s activities under the umbrella of institutions such as the People’s Houses and Turkish Language Association and her speeches on various occasions draw attention.
Ilgaz’s work in the cultural field is undoubtedly the work she carried out under the umbrella of the People’s Houses, which the CHP established in 1932 as cultural centers. In addition, her work within Turkish Language Association is also worth mentioning. As an orator, Ilgaz’s efforts are based on raising the cultural level of the society, especially the youth, and explaining and making them adopt Atatürk’s principles and reforms. In addition, Ilgaz also expressed her feelings and thoughts on social issues through the programs she participated in.
2.2.1. The People’s Houses Activities
On April 14, 1931, Cumhuriyet Halk Fırkası (the Republican People’s Party (CHP) since 1935) undertook all cultural activities after the extraordinary congress decided to dissolve the Turkish Hearths. At its third congress on May 10, 1931, the CHP decided to establish the People’s Houses and their chambers and opened the first 14 the People’s Houses on February 19, 1932 (Gümüşoğlu, Cumhuriyet, February 19, 2002, p.7; Gümüşoğlu, 2022, p. 435).323 People’s Houses, which Ilgaz characterized as “gathering and unifying dormitories for citizens”, operated as the CHP’s cultural centers and served until 1952 as the centers where Ilgaz and her generation were both raised and educated.
322 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2289, p. 7; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2468; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2488, pp.1-2.
323 The Women’s Library and Information Centre Foundation Muazzez İlmiye Çığ Private Archive (KEKBMV MİÇÖA) 10079_002_146.
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Working in the People’s Houses which consisted of 9 branches with great effort, Ilgaz started her work in the social and history branch of Eminönü People’s House in 1932324 and continued as the general secretary of Şehremini People’s House and the head of the Language, History and Literature branch from 1935.325 She also assumed the presidency of Şehremini People’s House,326 which was founded in 1935, three years after the establishment of the People’s Houses. We have different data on the date of Ilgaz’s presidency. Ilgaz wrote down the date July 7, 1937, for the presidency of Şehremini People’s House and said that she held this position until she was elected as Hatay deputy in 1943 (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 879).327 However, Ilgaz was among the heads of the People’s Houses when she shared their thoughts on the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Houses on February 23, 1937 (Ulus, February 23, 1937, p. 2). In Şehremini Halkevi Booklet dated 1937, Ilgaz was also listed as one of the presidents of the Halkevi between February 22, 1935, and February 22, 1937.328 On May 8, 1937, upon the directive of Party Secretary General Şükrü Kaya, Ilgaz delivered a speech on May 19 Youth and Sports Day on Ankara and Istanbul Radios as the president of Şehremini People’s House.329 On the other hand, Nadir Özbek gives the date 1936 for Ilgaz’s presidency of the People’s House, citing Ilgaz’s memoirs (Özbek, 2017, p. 57). According to a document from Ilgaz’s archive, Ilgaz was still the General Secretary of Şehremini People’s House330 on September 23, 1936. Ilgaz must have assumed the presidency sometime between this date and February 1937.
Şehremini People’s House, which she and Bican Bağcıoğlu had built, was opened on February 22, 1935, on the third anniversary of the founding of the People’s Houses. According to the 1937 Şehremini People’s House Booklet, Bican Bağcıoğlu, Nureddin Atasayar, Yusuf Sürer, and Hasene Ilgaz served as presidents during the two years between February 22, 1935, and February 22, 1937 (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 17).331 Information about the third-anniversary celebrations and the 23 newly opened the
324 In some sources, she is recorded as the President of Eminönü Public House in 1932 (KEKBMV MİÇÖA 10079_007_437, p. 2).
325 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1851, p. 179.
326 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_408; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1658, pp. 12-13.
327 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2551
328 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1658, p. 24.
329 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1900.
330 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1851, p. 178.
331 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1658, pp. 12-13, 24; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_408.
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People’s Houses was also taken part in the press (Ulus, February 23, 1935, p.2).332 In Ilgaz’s words, due to the successful activities of Şehremini People’s House, which was filled with visitors from all over Istanbul as a model people’s house, they were shown great favor by Governor Üstündağ,333 who presented them with a fanfare set and 50 harmonicas.334 Ilgaz states Şehremini, Eyüp, Eminönü, Kocamustafapaşa, and Kadıköy as the people’s houses where they worked for years and had new buildings built. (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 16-20; Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 87).
To educate the public and explain the bad aspects of the past administration and the benefits of the new order, public conferences were organized 2-3 evenings a week within the People’s House.335 Ilgaz, who drew attention with her speeches at events organized at Şehremini People’s House on the occasion of various historical days and events, delivered a speech titled “Our Supreme Leader and İsmet İnönü” at the ceremony organized during the hanging of Atatürk and İsmet İnönü’s photographs in the People’s House building, and spoke on behalf of the People’s House at events organized on the occasion of the Montreux Treaty, August 30 Victory Day and Republic Day.336 Ilgaz also addressed the public at the events organized by the Language-History-Literature branches, and in this context, she discussed the topics of “Sumerians and Sumerian Civilization”, “National Sovereignty Day (Hakimiyet-i Milliye Bayramı)”, “Dying Sevres, Living Lausanne”, “Turkish Revolution and the Republic”.337 Ilgaz made a speech at the anniversary of the founding of the Republic, one of the activities organized at the People’s House, and argued that the Republic had not yet completed its revolutions and stated that women would one day be soldiers and MPs (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 30).338 Ilgaz also mentioned her remarkable view that women could be deputies and soldiers in her speech on “Revolution and Reform (İhtilal ve Inkılap)” within the framework of the CHP’s second series of conferences.339
Another event Ilgaz organized at the People’s House was the Lausanne Day event on July 24, 1936, on the occasion of the Lausanne Peace Treaty on July 23, which she considered Turkey’s victory. The map of Sèvres that she had prepared within the
332 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1590.
333 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2305; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2348; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2610.
334 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2448
335 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1658, pp. 13, 17-18.
336 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1658, pp. 19-22.
337 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1658, p. 25
338 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2447, p. 1.
339 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_182, p. 11.
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framework of this program attracted attention, and after her opening speech, the academics who participated in the program as presenters shared their memories with the participants (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 30-31; Gümüşoğlu, 2001, p. 27; Gümüşoğlu, 2022, p. 436). Ilgaz also made a speech at the event organized for the anniversary of the opening of the People’s Houses, where she worked “with love and fervor to raise a youth with character”, emphasized the services provided by the People’s Houses and chambers to their surroundings and the whole of Turkey, and wished for their number to increase (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 31). With activities such as the Commemoration of Turkish Elders,340 the Second History Exhibition, theater performances, music education, and a library, Şehremini People’s House became a shelter and school for young people (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 18).341 One of Ilgaz’s activities during her presidency was the free lectern (serbest kürsü) practice. Ilgaz had a lectern placed in front of the People’s House on ceremonial days and made it possible for everyone, young and old, men and women, to express their thoughts from this lectern.342
Another activity of the People’s House was in the field of publishing. According to the information given by Ilgaz, as a result of the publishing activities carried out by the History branch, works such as “Eyüp Sultan Hazretleri”, “Beşiktaşlı Şeyh Yahya Efendi”, “Şair Şeref Hanım”, “History of the Baruthane”, and “Environmental History” were published.343
As the president of Şehremini People’s House, Ilgaz attached importance to social aid activities as well as cultural activities. She took the initiative, especially for those in need of food and shelter. For patients who came to Istanbul for treatment and had to wait in the hospital due to lack of space, the People’s House rented a few rooms close to the hospital and provided them with food from the Red Crescent or for a fee.344 Meeting the housing and food needs of people who came to Istanbul to find work was also among the activities Ilgaz endeavored to find solutions for.345 Ilgaz, who was also interested in Topkapı Association for Supporting the Poor (Topkapı Fukaraperver Cemiyeti) while she was the president of Şehremini People’s House, helped Dr. Galip
340 In the context of the nights commemorating Turkish Greats, Şehremini People’s House organized programs on “Abdülhak Hamid Tarhan” (KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1659 and 10002_029_1691.) on April 1, 1937 and “Musahipzade Celal” (KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1692) on May 1, 1937.
341 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 12
342 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2450; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1912; KEKBMV MİÇÖA 10079_007_437, p. 2.
343 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2444.
344 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2545
345 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2528
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Hakkı on some issues and connected this old Society to the social branch of Şehremini People’s House (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 181). The history and activities of the Society can be found in the booklet published on the 80th anniversary of its foundation (1988).346 Ilgaz pioneered the establishment of Association for Supporting the Poor’s branch in Samatya upon the request of Dr. Galip Bey, but Samatya Association for Supporting the Poor (Samatya Fukaraperver Cemiyeti) did not last long (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 181).
Although Ilgaz resigned as the president of Şehremini People’s House after becoming a deputy, her interest and contribution to the People’s Houses continued. For example, in May 1947, Ilgaz wrote an article in the first issue of the magazine İskilip, which was launched as a publication of İskilip People’s House, and in this article, she mentioned the publication principles of a public house’s magazine and expressed her views on what should be considered in terms of content.347 Again in 1949, while she was an MP for Çorum, she gave a conference at the Bilecik People’s House and listened to the complaints and demands of the people.348 On April 18, 1949, Ertuğrul Newspaper gave information about the visit and the conference, and published an article by Ilgaz titled “Constructive Criticism and Our Duties (Yapıcı Tenkit ve Vazifelerimiz)”.349 On May 27, 1961, Ilgaz took a close interest in the People’s Houses, which were reactivated, and provided stoves and coal to Fatih People’s House. 350
In 1948-1949, Children and Youth trainings were organized at Eminönü People’s House in Istanbul, and Ilgaz moderated these meetings. To raise youth with character, various professionals such as teachers, doctors, professors, and school principals came together in Istanbul and Ankara to express their ideas and opinions. Issues such as parents supporting each other in child education, the establishment of public education bureaus in the Ministry of National Education, the reorganization of school textbooks, the creation of a sense of nationality and history in children, and the demarcation of the limits of youth and children’s upbringing and freedom within the boundaries of democracy were determined. Meetings held every 15 days continued until 1950 (Ilgaz, 1981, s. 140-141).
On July 24, 1950, an event was planned for the anniversary of the Lausanne Conference at the Ankara People’s House, and since the Democratic Party (DP) was at
346 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_039_2255.
347 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1577.
348 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1578
349 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1414
350 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_146.
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its strongest, a woman, Hasene Ilgaz, was asked to give the speech. In her 45-minute speech, Ilgaz emphasized: “the importance of keeping young people and children away from all kinds of political thoughts, teaching them to value national personalities, not mixing the good intentions of friends with the gossip of enemies, and developing the culture of living together in this piece of homeland entrusted to them by loving and respecting each other” (Ilgaz, 1981, p.142).
When the government changed hands in 1950, the closure of the People’s Houses was on the agenda in 1952. As someone who had inspected all the People’s Houses in Istanbul for five years in addition to her presidency of Şehremini People’s House, Ilgaz made great efforts to prevent the closure of these houses, which she saw as the door to the people’s needs. Ilgaz described with deep sadness the closure of the People’s Houses, which the DP government saw as a financial burden and the plundering of their belongings. In her article titled “Cemal Nadir and Our People’s Houses”, which she wrote in Eflatun Magazine in 1976 on the occasion of Cemal Nadir’s death anniversary, she expresses her grief over the chains on the doors of the People’s Houses. She regrets the loss of her “pure-spirited, patriotic, hardworking” children and their being “slowly and systematically poisoned” (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 18).351 However, for the development of the homeland and the revolutions to come to life, people who see, think, and speak are needed (Gümüşoğlu, 2001, p. 29). Describing the closure of the People’s Houses as a counter-revolution, Ilgaz said that her generation, whose destiny was united with the revolutions, defended, and spoke about the same things wherever they were in a waterfall of ideas, without thinking of anything like resting or having fun, and that these speeches, conferences, and rallies influenced the people and willingly got rid of their old customs and habits. A blow struck against the People’s Houses, which had the full support of the people, was a blow struck against the people. This is also a blow to “the most valuable national capital, the capital of ideas” (Gümüşoğlu, 2001, p. 29).
Ilgaz also wrote about her dreams that she wanted to realize as the president of the People’s House but could not. Ilgaz, who wished to build a statue of Fatih Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror in a square near the Fatih District Governor’s Office, regrets that her wish was rejected on the grounds that it would be difficult to fulfill. According to her, this was a debt she felt she owed to Fatih as someone who was born, grew up,
351 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_017_973.
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studied, worked as a teacher, director, worked as the president of the People’s House and the Party, and took part in, headed and founded charitable organizations. Fatih, who pioneered the closing of an era and the opening of a new era, besieged Istanbul, the most fortified city in the world, conquered it in a period of 50 days, inhabited it, and presented it to future generations. Ilgaz expresses her thoughts with regret that we could not build him a bust (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 126).
As can be seen in a letter she sent to Istanbul Governor Nevzat Ayaz years later in 1986 when she was the president of Social Services Federation, Ilgaz’s desire to revive Şehremini People’s House continued due to both the demands of the people of the neighborhood and her belief in the People’s Houses as places where young people were nurtured and educated. In this letter, Ilgaz, as the head of social services, requests that Şehremini People’s House building, which is owned by the Ministry of National Education and used as a guesthouse, be allocated or given to them to be used as a public house again, and that they would like to open the pre-existing library in the building to the service of the residents and students, with the opening to coincide with the Republic Day.352
2.2.1.1 Exhibitions of Şehremini People’s House
Ilgaz’s exhibitions at Şehremini the People’s House are also worth mentioning in terms of her efforts for the cultural development of society and the construction of a national consciousness; especially, Turkish Historical Society Exhibition and Turkish Aeronautical Association Exhibition.
2.2.1.1.1 Turkish Historical Society Exhibition
Within the scope of the second congress of Turkish Historical Society (Türk Tarih Kurumu), which took place in Dolmabahçe Palace on September 20-25, 1937, Ilgaz, as the president of Şehremini People’s House, was asked to undertake the preparations for the exhibition.353 Ilgaz identified the people who could help with the preparations for the exhibition and notified the Historical Society. We also learn from Ilgaz that during these preparations, permission was obtained from the relevant authorities for her brother Hikmet Ilgaz to assist in the preparations, and that Atatürk rewarded her brother’s contribution with a civil service position.
352 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1656.
353 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 12. In this note, Ilgaz mistakenly wrote that this was the fourth congress. She also erroneously recorded the date of the congress as 1936 in her book Atatürk’e 100. Yıl Armağanı.
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The Second Turkish History Exhibition was opened on October 26. According to Ilgaz, it was kept in Dolmabahçe until Atatürk’s death (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 36). In her book about her school years, Ilgaz said that the exhibition was organized at Atatürk’s request and kept at the Dolmabahçe Palace until 1980 (Ilgaz, 1991a, p. 32). Ilgaz specifically stated that she attended the opening of the Second Turkish History Congress organized under the auspices of Atatürk, both as an invitee and as a contributor (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 36).354 The letter of thanks sent from Turkish Historical Society on behalf of Ilgaz as the President of Şehremini People’s House for her contributions to the exhibition was read by the board of directors and then placed in the archive of the People’s House (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 36).
2.2.1.1.2 Exhibition on behalf of the Aeronautical Association
In addition to Turkish Historical Society exhibition, Şehremini People’s House also organized educational exhibitions. The exhibition opened on behalf of the Aeronautical Association is one of these exhibitions. In Ilgaz’s words, the exhibition aimed to protect the public from airborne hazards and explain the importance of aviation for the country. Ilgaz, who was also Fatih district president of Turkish Aeronautical Association at the time of the exhibition, aimed to raise public awareness about what to do in the event of an air attack and to draw attention to the role of aviation in the protection of the country by employing the youth of Şehremini People’s House. This exhibition of paintings, graphics, and photographs attracted great interest and was visited by the people of the district and students and teachers at schools.
Within this framework, also, activities on human and child health, revolutions, and infectious diseases such as malaria were organized at the People’s House, and the public was informed about these issues through speeches and small exhibitions (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 36 and 190). 355
2.2.2. Turkish Language Studies
Ilgaz took part in the first language congress held at the Dolmabahçe Palace on September 26, 1932. In July 1932, Turkish Language Research Society (Türk Dili Tetkik Cemiyeti), founded by Atatürk, began to carry out language studies as a cultural activity with broad participation. According to Ilgaz, Atatürk planned language studies as a cultural activity that would involve wider masses rather than conducting it with a
354 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2074.
355 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_192.
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few members as in the case of history (Ilgaz, 1981, p.27).356 The number of those who registered to participate in the congress exceeded 1000. Ilgaz expressed her feelings about this first congress as follows: “Like Turkey, Turkish was being saved. How happy for us” (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 19, Gümüşoğlu, 2001, pp. 29-30).357 The Kurultay has another significance for Ilgaz because she met Atatürk for the first time when she went to register to attend this congress (Selçuker, 1987, p. 2 & 10).358
In Ilgaz’s words, the Congress, in which a thesis was evaluated every day, passed and concluded with the joy of a feast. A linguistic consciousness was created about Turkish language, an ancient language, and language studies were expanded. “Scans, dictionaries, magazines, hundreds of books... Storytellers, poets, and novelists who wrote in Turkish...” were all evaluated within this framework (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 28).359 With his speech in Sarayburnu Park on August 19, 1928, Atatürk expressed the main and basic elements of national culture (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 28) and announced the new Turkish letters to the Turkish nation (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 52). The letter revolution on November 1, 1928, was the pioneer of victories in this field (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 28; Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 33-34).
Ilgaz, who was at the head of Turkish Language Association’s collection of words, which she considered as Atatürk’s relic, compiled thousands of receipts and sent them to Ruşen Eşref Bey.360 Many letters of thanks were sent to Hasene Ilgaz, one of the teachers of the 21st school in Istanbul, from the Directorate of Education in Istanbul (İstanbul Maarif Müdürlüğü) for her interest in word compilation (Ilgaz. 1981, p.27-29). In an anecdote that Ruşen Eşref later related to her, it was said that Ilgaz’s regular submission of the slips she compiled to Haydar Bey, the Director of Education, drew the attention of Atatürk. Atatürk asked the Director of Education to send a letter of thanks on his behalf for Ilgaz’s meticulous work. After receiving the letter, Ilgaz thought that all the teachers of the Fatih district had a share in this thank you, so she managed to hang the letter in the room of Haydar Bey, the Director of Education (Ilgaz, 1981, p.124).
356 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1782_s.1; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2740, p. 1, KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2742, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_191.
357 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2581.
358 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1773.
359 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_31_1782, p. 3.
360 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1782_s.3; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 11.
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On the other hand, the “savior mission” Ilgaz attributed to Turkish Language Association and its congresses shows the importance she attached to these activities, of which she was a part. Ilgaz followed the language congresses and published articles informing the public. For example, in July 1957, Ilgaz wrote an article in Yeni İstanbul Newspaper on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Language Association and the 8th Language Congress on the history of Turkish Language Association and the work of the congress, and in the issue of the same newspaper dated June 29, 1977, she also evaluated the 13th Language Congress.361
Judging from Haldun Taner’s article in Milliyet Newspaper, in which he speaks highly of Ilgaz’s presidential skills in language congresses, we see that Ilgaz also served as the chairman of language congresses. Writing on December 3, 1981, Taner states the following on the subject: “In the Language Association Congresses chaired by Hasene Ilgaz, I have always witnessed with pleasure her great capacity for comprehensiveness and how, with subtle psychology, she could bring even the loudest chatterboxes to reason without offending them. At the end of the congress, I would run, not the orators, and sincerely congratulate this masterful chairman.” (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 95, Gümüşoğlu, 2001, p. 21). 362
2.2.3. Hasene Ilgaz as an Orator
Ilgaz addressed the public in many events (seminars, conferences, symposiums, etc.) throughout her life and had the opportunity to express the values and views she believed in. These speeches started when she was still a student and continued on various occasions until the end of her long life. Halide Edip praised her speaking ability and stated that it was a great blessing for a person to have the ability to both write and speak (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 115-116). We see Ilgaz, whose innate speaking ability, combined with her knowledge and experience, giving speeches on many different topics. Ilgaz shared her feelings and thoughts with the audience at events organized on the occasion of historical days and events such as the liberation of Istanbul, the day of commemoration of aviation martyrs, Lausanne Day, Montreux Victory (Ilgaz, 1991a, p.31),363 Atatürk’s assassination attempt,364 the recognition of women’s right to vote
361 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_254; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2426; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_006_558.
362 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2475; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2636.
363 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 5.
364 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1851, p. 190; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_477; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_421.
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and be elected,365 the Turkish Language Congress,366 Teachers’ Day.367 She also made speeches on the occasion of various inauguration programs, founding anniversaries (such as the Proclamation of the Republic and Founding of Charity Association),368 and aid activities (Torbalı and Gönen Earthquake, aid to the East (Erzurum, Kars, and Ağrı)) (Ilgaz, 1991a, pp. 31-32).
Speaking at congresses,369 conferences,370 and elections (Vakit, 12 March 1939, p. 1; Son Posta, 11 March 1939, p. 11),371 etc. under the umbrella of CHP, Ilgaz also made presentations at commemoration programs on historical figures such as Atatürk,372 Mehmet Akif Ersoy.373 Turkish revolution was the most important subject she talked about by running from pulpit to pulpit.374 Ilgaz was also invited to schools and had the opportunity to share her feelings and thoughts with young people. In 1963, Ilgaz was invited to Üsküdar American High School for Girls to give a speech on “The Importance of the Republic and the Place of Women in this Regime”.375 On December 6, 1985, Ilgaz made a speech on “Atatürk, the War of Independence and Revolutions” to young people at Maçka Technical School.376 In 1983, Ilgaz was invited to Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Paşa Primary School on the occasion of Teachers’ Day.377
Ilgaz has also made radio and television speeches about historical days and events and historical figures. Ilgaz made speeches on Ankara and Istanbul radios on the 28th anniversary of Atatürk’s death,378 on August 30, 1963, on Victory Day and the Battle of the Commander-in-Chief,379 on March 30, 1971, on the anniversary of the
365 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_145; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_427; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_006_566; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1568; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1591; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, p. 6; KEKBEMEV HIÖA 10002_029_1725.
366 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1782; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1879.
367 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_134.
368 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_142; pp. 37-39; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_141.
369 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2433; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1593; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1372; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1581.
370 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_036; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_186; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_182.
371 KKEBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2522.
372 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_143; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_444; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_015_951; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_034_1938; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2597; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2772, pp. 21-32
373 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2041, KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2464; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_022_1185.
374 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_015_951; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1594, pp. 5-7; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_182.
375 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_2073
376 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1902.
377 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_021_1159.
378 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1851, pp. 184-185.
379 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1787
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death of Cezayirli Gazi Hasan Pasha,380 on May 8, 1937 on May 19 Youth and Sports Day,381 and on July 27, 1949 she made a radio speech for Cyprus.382 On February 3, 1937, Ilgaz made a radio speech on behalf of Child Protection Agency,383 and on February 4, 1966, she addressed the public on the radio on Social Services384 and Migros Türk.385 According to a letter386 dated April 24, 1948, from Umay, the President of Child Protection Agency, she spoke on the occasion of April 23rd Children’s Day, probably on behalf of Child Protection Agency. We also witness that Ilgaz made a television speech on the occasion of May 20-26 Deaf Week.387
On July 4, 1949, she was also asked to help BBC Radio with the Turkish broadcast to introduce Turkey to British listeners and inform them. In a note in her private archive, Ilgaz wrote that in response to this request, she prepared notes on the cultural, economic, and historical characteristics of the cities and a cultural and social report and sent it to the BBC.388
2.2.3.1 Ilgaz’s Addresses from Student Ilgaz to Activist Ilgaz
Ilgaz, who was among the young idealist generation of the Second Constitutional Period and the Armistice years, was still a student when she attended the Sultanahmet rally, one of the rallies organized in Istanbul upon the occupation of Istanbul on November 13, 1918, and then Izmir on May 15, 1919 (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 11 and 115; Ilgaz, 1991a, p. 15). According to Ergun, who writes that she attended Fatih and Sultanahmet rallies with her friends, meeting her father at the rally was one of Ilgaz’s unforgettable memories (Ergun, 1997, p. 114). Ilgaz, who was a student at Çapa Girls’ Teacher Training School during the occupation of Istanbul, conveyed the sadness when they first heard the news that the occupation forces seized the administration in Istanbul on March 16, 1920, and the struggle they fought at school as a living witness of the period.389 Ilgaz described the speeches they made from the pulpit of the school as soon as they received the news from their teacher Sabri Bey that Istanbul was
380 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1790
381 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1900
382 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_013_879; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_463. Ilgaz received many letters of thanks and telegrams from Turkish Cypriots for this speech. The letters and telegrams are available in her private archive at the Women’s Library.
383 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_022_1189.
384 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1897
385 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_038
386 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2537
387 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2445
388 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1859
389 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2465.
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officially occupied, how they did not attend classes for a week and organized rallies, and how they felt: “We were inexperienced, naïve young girls, but we had a great love for our country. We had taken an oath that the homeland would be saved, and the enemy would be expelled from the country” (Ilgaz, 1991a, p. 14; Gümüşoğlu, 2001, p. 22). Ilgaz seems to have inherited this fighting spirit that permeated her whole life from her father. After the occupation of Istanbul, her father, Mehmet Fevzi Bey, secretly went to Bursa to convey the details of the event to Recep Peker (Gümüşoğlu, 2001, p. 23; Gümüşoğlu, 2022, p. 431). Years later, she had the opportunity to meet and work with Halide Edip, whom she had listened to from the pulpit in those years, at the opening of the Istanbul branch of Charity Association in 1941 (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 115).
The speech Ilgaz cites as a turning point in her oratorical life is the speech she delivered after the earthquake in Torbalı, İzmir on March 31, 1928. According to Ilgaz, she, who attracted attention with her speech after the Torbalı Earthquake, became a sought-after person to “lead congresses and make speeches on official occasions” (Ilgaz, 1991a, p. 31). In an interview with Perihan Ergun, she stated that all doors opened for her with her speech in Beyazıt Square after the Izmir Assassination (Ergun, 1997, p. 114).390
2.2.3.2. Her Speech at TKB on the Day Turkish Women Won the Right to Vote and Be Elected
One of the issues on which Ilgaz shared her feelings and thoughts many times throughout her life was granted the right to vote and be elected woman on December 5, 1934. As a matter of fact, following the adoption of the draft law by the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, Ilgaz made a speech at the Turkish Women’s Union (in Turkish abbreviation TKB) on this decision, which was greeted with great joy. On this occasion, she claimed she was the first to announce this good news to the World and Turkish public opinion.391 After the conference, she received a letter from Atatürk wishing her continued success (Ilgaz, 1991a, p.32).392
On December 5, 1989, on the 55th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote and be elected, Ilgaz told the speech she gave at the request of two members of the Turkish Women’s Union at their headquarters in Cağaloğlu when the Parliament passed
390 This speech, which Ilgaz referred to as the Izmir Assassination both in her interviews and in her writings, did not take place after the Izmir Assassination in 1926, but after the assassination attempt in 1935. The assassination attempt in 1935, which was reflected in the press and caused great outrage, and Ilgaz’s speech will be discussed separately.
391 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_145, p. 3.
392 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2447, p. 2.
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the draft law. She addressed a large crowd and expressed her gratitude to Mustafa Kemal and the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye for granting women the right to vote and be elected. While millions of women around the world were waiting for the right to become ambassadors and deputies, Ilgaz expressed her gratitude for this right granted to Turkish women before most of the women of the world. After her 35-minute speech, Ilgaz stepped down from the rostrum with great joy and enthusiasm and was even happier the next day when she received a telegram from Atatürk. Ilgaz gave the original telegram to the Women’s Union and stated that she kept a copy of it herself (Ilgaz, 1991a, p. 32; Banoğlu, 1989, p. 4; Ergun, 1997, pp. 116-117).393
Ilgaz also made a presentation on “Women’s Entry into Political Life” at a symposium organized by the Lions Club on December 7, 1984, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of women’s right to vote and be elected.394 In another conference held at the Dedeman Hotel on December 4, 1984, 50 years after women were granted the right to vote and be elected, Ilgaz again touched upon the history of Turkish women’s presence in social and political life and stated that the Turkish Women’s Union was founded by Naciye Refhan, Latife Bekir, Lamia Refik, Mediha Muzaffer and others with the support of Makbule Atadan.395 In this speech, Ilgaz also reminded that Nezihe Muhiddin, the president of the association, had been sent to Refik İsmail to demand political rights but had received a negative response. Then Ilgaz touched upon the attempts to propose a law in the National Assembly in 1923 and lamentingly explained that the draft was prepared only according to the male population, as if women did not exist at all, let alone the right to vote for women. Recalling the April 30, 1923 debate recorded in the parliamentary minutes, Ilgaz said that even Atatürk faced resistance to the revolutions he wanted to make on women’s rights. She stated that Mustafa Kemal, on the other hand, emphasized the importance of women on every trip he made and believed that men and women should work together in the country’s affairs. According to Ilgaz, Atatürk was “preparing Turkish public opinion for the women’s rights revolution with these speeches”.396
Following the equality between men and women achieved with the adoption of the Civil Code in 1926, the draft Municipal Law was amended in 1930 to replace the
393 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2447, p. 2.
394 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_034_1928.
395 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_145_s. 3.
396 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002;001_145, pp.3-5.
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term “male voter” with the term “citizen”, thus implicitly granting women the right to vote. When women’s participation in municipal elections yielded very positive results, Turkish women were given the right to vote and be elected in 1934. Upon the draft law brought to the agenda by İsmet İnönü and 191 of his friends in the parliament, Turkish women gained the right to elect and be elected as members of the Parliament on December 5, 1934, with the amendment made to the 10th and other articles of the Law No. 2599 on Teşkilat-ı Esasiye (Turkish Constitution of 1921), and on March 1, 1935, there were 18 women deputies in the V. Parliament.397
Ilgaz touched upon this issue years later in a speech she delivered at an event organized by the SHP Provincial Women’s Commission, and her speech was published in Cumhuriyet newspaper on January 1, 1990.398
2.2.3.3. Her Speech on Womanhood
Another speech she delivered at the Turkish Women’s Union was on “womanhood”. In the program organized by the Istanbul Branch of the TKB, Ilgaz touched upon the history of women’s social and political existence in society and mentioned that Turkish women played an active role in society with their men from the ancient Turkish states to the Ottoman Empire. In the Ottoman Empire, Turkish women, who were isolated from society until the Greek [1867] and Balkan [1912-1913] wars, assumed social responsibilities again due to the conditions of the time after these wars and started association activities with the Second Constitutional Period. In this context, Ilgaz mentioned that the Turkish Women’s Union was founded in 1924 under the presidency of Nezihe Muhiddin, and as a result of the equality between women and men in the Civil Code in 1926 with Atatürk’s initiative, and the right to vote and be elected in municipal elections in 1930 and general elections in 1934, it was decided to close the association after the 12th International Women’s Congress held in Istanbul in 1935. As mentioned above, she claimed that a speech she made in the Parliament in 1946 had an impact on the re-establishment of the Turkish Women’s Union in 1949 (Ilgaz, 1991b, p.50-52).399
According to Ilgaz, who touched on the same subject in another speech she made in Eskişehir, it is the woman who builds, sustains, and maintains the society. The Republic has brought great rights and freedom to women. Ilgaz also made an interesting
397 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_145_ pp. 6-7.
398 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1725
399 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_090; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_071.
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observation in this speech. According to her, the May 27 coup, which she characterizes as a revolution, is a great lesson for Turkish womanhood. Because May 27th showed that women should pay closer attention to their men and the new constitution that came into force after the revolution and its light laid the foundations of the second Republic on social causes.400
2.2.3.4. Assassination of Atatürk, 1935
The assassination attempt on Atatürk, which Ilgaz refers to in her works, notes, and interviews as the 1926 Izmir Assassination, and the rallies organized afterward, is the assassination attempt in 1935. According to the information in the press and as Ilgaz herself mentioned in her speech, the incident of “traitors with dark hearts... sent from the southern frontier... with pockets full of cartridges... with a thousand and one instructions” took place in 1935 (Cumhuriyet, October 24, 1935, p. 2).401 Considering the fact that Ilgaz’s works and interviews with her were published in 1970 and later, and the existence of more than one assassination attempt against Atatürk, it is possible that Ilgaz may have confused the date in question.
The news of the assassination attempt, which Çerkez Ethem allegedly planned in August 1935, appeared in the press in October, and according to a report in Cumhuriyet dated October 18, the assassins were captured after entering the country through the Syrian border. Following the news, well-attended rallies were organized in Izmir, Ankara, and Istanbul (Salman Bolat, 2012, pp. 9 and 14-16). Ilgaz, who took part in the committee formed for the preparations for the rally planned to be held in Beyazıt Square on October 23rd in Istanbul, was also the first speaker at the rally (Ilgaz, 1991a, p.31). Addressing a jam-packed square, Ilgaz began her speech with the words “My compatriots”, which was interrupted from time to time by applause and chants of “hurrah”, and ended by cursing the traitors, and gave morale to the citizens (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 21; Kurun, October 24, 1935, p. 8). She received a letter of thanks from Atatürk for this speech in Beyazıt. (Ilgaz, 1981, p.125; Ilgaz 1991a, p.32).
In her speech, Ilgaz emphasized the greatness of Mustafa Kemal’s achievements and his value in the eyes of the people and stated that this assassination attempt targeted the Turkish nation and that the entire nation condemned this attempt. She expressed that the hands reaching out to Atatürk, who exists in the heart of a nation united as one
400 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2295, p. 3.
401 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2620, p. 2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2621, p. 8
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with the Republic, will be immediately broken by the Turkish nation, which is bound to him with infinite love and gratitude, and that this is accepted as a cause and a duty. Because “Atatürk belongs to Turkey and Turkey belongs to Atatürk” (Cumhuriyet, October 24, 1935, pp. 1 and 7; Kurun, October 24, 1935, pp. 7-8). 402
2.2.3.5. Her Speech at the CHP’s 4th Congress
Speaking at the 4th Congress held on May 9, 1935, Ilgaz stated that the Republican People’s Party was founded in the most difficult conditions of the country, that it not only expelled the enemies from Turkey, but also eliminated the sultans, whom it described as the source of ignorance and bigotry, and that it determined its causes and thus became the interpreter of national and political demands. Before discussing the Party’s program, Ilgaz recalls the historical process and the struggles in World War I and then the War of Independence and states that the People’s Party laid the foundations of the new Republic of Turkey as a result of this struggle and that it was the Party that would protect and preserve it. Stating that the CHP program, on the other hand, was not formed in a day but was a work of accumulation, Ilgaz argues that the CHP was founded within the framework of the principles that constitute its main principles, taking into account the new life concepts. According to her, the CHP program has principles that will respond to the needs of all citizens; these principles are Republicanism, Nationalism, Populism, Etatism, Secularism, and Reformism.403
2.2.3.6. Montreux Victory, 1936
Signed on July 20, 1936, the Montreux Treaty, which was considered in the press of the period as a treaty that brought Atatürk’s Turkey’s ideal of “full independence” to fruition, was accepted as a great victory in the country and was greeted with great joy. On July 21, 1936, Ilgaz first attended the ceremony at Edirnekapı Martyrs’ Cemetery, then the celebrations at Istanbul University, and made speeches at the rallies in Beyazıt Square and Taksim. According to Ilgaz, who found these celebrations appropriate, “Mudanya is the victory of the sword, Lausanne is the victory of the right, Montreux is the victory of goodwill” (Son Posta, 20 July 1936, p. 1; Cumhuriyet, 21 July 1936, p. 8; Ilgaz, 1981, p. 14).404
402 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_421; KEKBMV HIÖA 032_1851, pp. 189-190
403 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2433.
404 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_260; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2360.
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2.2.3.7. Turkish Revolution and Reform405
Ilgaz’s views on the Turkish revolution, which guided all her activities throughout her life, especially her thoughts and principles, undoubtedly demonstrate on which norms Ilgaz’s worldview was built. In December 1935, in a series of conferences406 organized by the Party headquarters to raise public awareness about “independence and revolution”, Ilgaz was asked to give a speech in this context.407
In her speech on “Turkish Revolution and Reform”,408 Ilgaz first drew attention to Atatürk’s heroism in the War of Independence. According to Ilgaz, Atatürk “led his nation to victory and independence ... guided it on the path of civilization”. Just as he saved the Turkish nation from the calamities of the past, he has the remedies and solutions to protect it from the calamities of the future. The Turkish Revolution was also based on giving individuals work and duties within a free nation, not a freedom that separates them from society.409 In her speech, Ilgaz also included the revolutions she characterized as cultural revolutions and evaluated the revolutions made in this field one by one under the headings of the alphabet, history, religion, clothing (hat), measurement, weighing, calendar, and women’s revolution. She stated that all these revolutions were made as a necessity of civilized needs and that they did not aim to imitate the West.410
2.2.3.8. Anniversaries of the Founding of the Republic
One of the topics that Ilgaz brought up and talked about on various occasions, either in a village tour or in a program organized on the occasion of the Republic Day, was the establishment of the Republic. As a living witness of the proclamation of the Republic, Ilgaz describes that day with great enthusiasm. According to her, “To be able to say that I experienced the feast, that I was happy with the feast”, has to have accompanied the feast in person like Ilgaz. It can be described as “neither in writing nor in a photograph because it is a feast of excitement and happiness” (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 25-26).
Ilgaz also shared her thoughts in a speech she delivered on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Republic. In Ilgaz’s words, the proclamation of the Republic
405 Türk İhtilal ve İnkılabı
406 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_036.
407 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_186.
408 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_182
409 KRKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_182, p. 3
410 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_182, p. 11
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after the Battles of İnönü, the Battle of Sakarya, and the Great Offensive was a revolution that the Turkish nation was ready for and accepted with feelings of gratitude.411 This revolution, which is one of the Turkish revolutions made in consideration of the needs of the 20th century,412 is the greatest of Atatürk’s revolutions and is based on the secular Republican state.413
In another speech she delivered on the 66th anniversary of the Republic, Ilgaz emphasized the meaning and historical development of the Republican regime. In this speech, Ilgaz described the Republican regime as “the most advanced state system" and said that the word “Republic” meant that the heads of state were elected and that they sought the approval of the society in matters concerning the society. According to Ilgaz, who evaluates the concept of a Republic starting from Rome and Ancient Greece, the Republican administration of these periods is not a Republican regime in the modern sense. The Republic became possible only when individuals were granted political rights, a date Ilgaz associates with the American Declaration of Independence and the French Revolution. Referring to the process in Turkey in this context, Ilgaz mentions the arbitrary rule in the Ottoman Empire until 1877, the period of Abdul Hamid II, which she considers as the period of despotism and the process that started with the Second Constitutional Period and ended with the War of Independence. “The Republic is a regime of virtue” for Ilgaz, who states that society rose again with Mustafa Kemal. “Turkish democracy is completely dependent on the Republic” (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 37-39).
2.2.3.9. I. and II. Social Services Conference
Ilgaz participated in the I. and II. Social Services Conference, where she had the opportunity to express her thoughts on social issues (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 136). On December 27, 1959, Ilgaz was among the speakers at the I. Social Services Conference in the large hall of the Faculty of Language, History, and Geography. In her speech, Ilgaz touched upon Turkish civilizations and the fact that they brought their benevolence to all the regions they migrated to, starting from the homeland, and explained with examples the social aid and services of the Turks and how they carried this to the West. Ilgaz, whose speech was greatly appreciated, explains the reason behind Refik Koraltan’s words of praise for her at that moment as his desire to see her in the ranks of the Democratic
411 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_142, p. 5
412 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_142, p. 2
413 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_142, p. 4
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Party. In all her works, Ilgaz, who always adopted the principle of serving the country as her motto, especially stayed away from this attitude called partisanship, which wears people down, and made it her motto to say right is right and wrong is wrong, no matter who it is (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 138-139). Before the conference, Ilgaz wrote an article in which she evaluated the conference and the preparations for the conference.414
Held on May 6, 1962, the subject of the Second Social Services Conference was children, especially village children. At the conference, all problems related to children were discussed, from birth rates, family planning, child diseases, and deaths to the patenting of infant formula to Child Protection Agency (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 139). Ilgaz noted that she also made a speech at this conference.415
2.2.3.10. Her Speech on behalf of Pensioners on Law No. 1101
As a woman with a high level of social sensitivity, the programs Ilgaz participated in within this framework are also noteworthy. For example, Ilgaz, who was also interested in the issue of pensions both in the context of her social activities and during her parliamentary term, spoke at one of the meetings organized within the framework of Law No. 1101 and shared her thoughts on the subject. According to Ilgaz, Law No. 1101 would make it possible for every pensioner to have an income that would be worthy of his/her labor and would not leave him / her destitute (Ilgaz, 1991b, 79-80). Finding the negative reactions to the law unjustified, Ilgaz believes that a retired civil servant who has served the State with honor should be greeted with gratitude and appreciation and crowned with a crown. In Ilgaz’s words, “It is indeed thought-provoking for a civil servant to perform this tiring and heavy duty for 25, 30, 40, 50 years indefinitely”. On the other hand, Ilgaz also emphasizes that the Turkish nation, with its civil servants and pensioners, loves their duties towards the state and the government and that she is against any idea that would create separation among the people (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 79).
On July 27, 1958, at a panel discussion organized by Vatan newspaper upon the invitation of the Civilian General Retired Association, the issue of “Retirees” was discussed and Ilgaz, speaking at the session, evaluated the issue of early retirement. Ilgaz acknowledged that there was a pensioner problem in Turkey and pointed out the impossibility of a person who started life at the age of 17 retiring 25-30 years later at a
414 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_233.
415 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2554.
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young age and living on a pension and emphasized the necessity of finding new job opportunities for these retirees. In the aforementioned panel discussion, Ilgaz also mentioned a report prepared by a Frenchman in 1945 on pensioners in Turkey and that this report was given to the relevant ministries and the Security Fund (Emniyet Sandığı).416
2.2.3.11. Teachers’ Day Speech (1981)
Ilgaz, who gave speeches on various occasions at many of Turkey’s Lions Clubs (Bostancı, Taksim, Şişhane, Gayrettepe, Bebek, Bakırköy, Mavi Haliç, Turkish Youth, Esentepe, etc.),417 expressed her feelings and thoughts about this day, which was celebrated for the first time in 1981, at the Teachers’ Day program organized by the International Lions Federation. Ilgaz, who was awarded certificates of appreciation by the International Lions Federation and Eminönü Lions in 1981, 1983, and 1984 on the occasion of Teachers’ Day as the first person to teach Latin letters,418 shared with the audience her joy that November 24, the day Mustafa Kemal accepted the position of head teacher at the National Schools, was celebrated as Teachers’ Day. According to Ilgaz, this way the Turkish nation and the whole of humanity remembered Atatürk as an exemplary human being on the 100th anniversary of his birth. Atatürk, whom the Turkish nation is proud to have, is God’s gift to the Turkish nation.419 In her speech, Ilgaz explains that Atatürk, who worked to save the Turkish nation from illiteracy and bigotry, prepared the Turkish alphabet by examining the alphabets of various nations so that the society could learn to read quickly and easily. When the work on the alphabet was completed, Istanbul was chosen for the announcement of the alphabet revolution, and the new letters were announced at a meeting held in Sarayburnu on August 9, 1928. To put this revolution, which aimed to teach literacy to all segments of society, into practice immediately, it was decided that education in the first grades of primary schools and public classrooms would be carried out in these letters,420 and all publications were requested to be made in Latin letters within 3 months. On June 1, 1929, the old letters were abolished.421
416 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1576.
417 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2443; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1623.
418 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2786, p.2.
419 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_134, p. 1.
420 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2772, pp. 30-32
421 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_134, pp. 1-6.
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The issue of the Alphabet Reform is an important reform that Ilgaz not only mentioned in her speeches but also in her writings. Despite her advancing age, Ilgaz, in the 128-129th issue of Yeni Defne Magazine dated November 1992, on the occasion of the Teachers’ Day, wrote about the issue of Head Teacher and the Alphabet Reform with thanks to the president of the International Lions Management Circle Federation.422
2.2.3.12. Address to Maçka Technical School Students
On December 6, 1985, Ilgaz addressed the students of the Maçta Technical School and began her speech by pointing out that it was not possible to understand Atatürk without knowing the history of the War of Independence and the administration of the Republic. Ilgaz emphasized that “Atatürk was a commander in war, a politician in state building, and an intellectual in his revolutions”. Describing Atatürk’s 1927 speech (Nutuk) as a history book, Ilgaz stated that the War of Independence lasted 3 years, 3 months, and 24 days. She said that the revolutions were realized between 1923 and 1938 and that they had the criteria of independence against the outside and national sovereignty against the inside. According to Ilgaz, “It is our duty to walk on the path shown by Atatürk, who taught the Turkish nation the way to welcome life with joy, to die for this cause, and to support his revolutions with revolutions”.423
422 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2431.
423 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1902.
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CHAPTER 3
ILGAZ’S LEGACY THROUGH HER WORKS AND THOUGHTS
3.1. Her Works
Ilgaz’s works were published as an article or tafrika (serial) in various periodicals or published in book forms upon the request of her friends. Most of these works are derived from the observations she made and notes she took on various occasions (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 5). These works, some of which were written as a debt of gratitude to Atatürk as in the 100th Anniversary Gift to Atatürk (Atatürk’e 100. Yıl Armağanı) (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 5) and some of which were written to explain the views and thoughts of a period to young people as in Ertuğrul Frigate (Ilgaz, 1990, p. 3), are the works of an idealist Turkish woman’s responsibility towards the society she lived in. Through her writings in periodicals, she aimed to reach out to society and inform and raise awareness on issues she considered important.
Ilgaz has 8 published books, and according to the information given in her work titled 100th Anniversary Gift to Atatürk, she has also written 8 tafrikas (serials): “Children’s Affairs after the Republic (Cumhuriyetten Sonra Çocuk İşleri)”, “The Birth of the National Struggle Karakol Society (Milli Mücadelenin Doğuşu Karakol Cemiyeti)”, “What I Saw in 33 Prisons (33 Cezaevinde Gördüklerim)”, “The Japanese Voyage of the Ertuğrul Frigate (Ertuğrul Fırkateyni'nin Japonya Seyahati)”, “Jalalis in the Ottoman Empire (Osmanlı İmparatorluğunda Celaliler”, “Village Trips and Switzerland, America, Syria (Köy Gezileri ve İsviçre, Amerika, Suriye)”, “What I Saw in America (Amerika'da Gördüklerim)”, “Child and Youth Education (Çocuk ve Gençlik Eğitimi)” (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 247). 1986 Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye Brochure, the booklet titled Atatürk: From Birth to Death (Atatürk: Doğumundan Ölümüne Kadar), published on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of his death, and the booklet containing the conferences organized by the CHP Provincial Women’s Branches after the 1960 Coup were also produced by Ilgaz.
Among her works published in the book titled 100th Anniversary Gift to Atatürk were “Our Martyrs’ Cemeteries Inside and Outside the Borders (Sınırdışı ve içi Şehitliklerimiz), Çanakkale Battles and Martyrs’ Cemeteries (Çanakkale Muharebeleri ve Şehitlikleri), 15 Days in Syria (Suriye’de 15 Gün), Heroic Children (Kahraman Çocuklar), The Waters of Istanbul (İstanbul Suları), Armenians in the East (Doğu’da Ermeniler), Women Before and After Islam (İslamiyet’ten Evvel ve Sonra Kadın,), Eastern Travels (Doğu Gezileri), Social Studies (Sosyal Çalışmalar), First Built Slums
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(İlk Yapılan Gecekondular), surveys and studies on various subjects, Women Deputies and Their Studies (Kadın Milletvekilleri ve Çalışmaları)”, but these works were not found in her private archive (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 247). However, according to a letter sent to her on December 16, 1964, from the Directorate of Printed Writings and Paintings of the Ministry of National Education, her books titled Children’s Affairs after the Republic (1933), The People’s Houses Activities (Halkevi Çalışmaları) (1935), and What I Saw in 33 Prisons (1955) were published. In the same letter, it was noted that her work on the Ertuğrul Disaster, which is currently available in a 1991 edition, was published in 1954.424 However, judging from the book published in 1990, the book should have been published again on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the disaster. According to a letter dated July 1976, Ilgaz applied to the Ministry of National Defense to publish her book “Turkish Martyrs”, but it is understood that the Ministry rejected the application because it was preparing a publication on the same subject.425 In addition, there are no drafts of these books in her private archive, which she donated to the Women’s Library. In her private archive, there is a 38-page notebook titled “Children’s Affairs in the Republic of Turkey” dated March 1, 1951, and written in Ottoman Turkish. In this notebook, Ilgaz discusses the emergence of children’s associations, the history of Child Protection Agency, children’s publications and libraries, cinemas, the work of the Ministries of National Education, Health, Customs and Monopolies, Justice and Enterprises, municipalities and the activities of the Red Crescent.426 Stating that she wanted to write about her domestic and foreign travels, Ilgaz said that she could not find the opportunity to write these notes, which were too numerous, and therefore many of her travels remained in her notebooks (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 58).
As briefly summarized above, Ilgaz’s writings in many magazines and newspapers cover a wide range of topics from social issues, cultural issues, city life, village life, daily life, business life, economy, politics, health, education, history, social services, and art. Ilgaz’s writings and works based on her research, observations, experiences, and opinions shed light on the period she lived in from the perspective of a Republican woman who was an educator, philanthropist, member of parliament, and writer.
424 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2084.
425 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_077.
426 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_024_1319.
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3.1.1. Her Articles in Periodicals
If we roughly classify Ilgaz’s writings into approximately 25 periodicals, we see that she primarily focused on the education of children and young people and their basic needs such as housing, nutrition, and protection. Ilgaz, who attaches importance to educational activities for children and young people, wrote articles containing her opinions, observations, and suggestions on the relationship between parents and schools and the solution to problems in education. Bad habits, juvenile crimes and courts, child deaths, child trafficking, and orphaned children are some of the issues Ilgaz addresses in the context of child and youth problems. In the same vein, family and family planning and adult education have also found a place in Ilgaz’s writings. Ilgaz’s views on child, youth, and adult education are important when the experience of her 20-year teaching career is taken into consideration.
Prisoners, the elderly, youth, children, villagers, tradesmen, workers, pensioners, nurses, domestic workers, women, women’s rights ... in short, all segments of society found a place in Ilgaz’s pen. Under the titles “Eye Catchers (Gözümüze Çarpanlar)”, “Ramadan Conversations (Ramazan Sohbetleri)”, “Subject of the Day (Günün Konusu)”, “Homeland Issues (Memleket Meseleleri)”, “Education Issues (Maarif Meseleleri)”, “Social Issues (Sosyal Konular)”, “Social Cases (Sosyal Davalarımız)”, “Time to Time (Vakit Vakit)”, “As Time Allows (Vakit Buldukça)”, she wrote about earthquakes, fires, the state of foundations, the social work of other nations, disabled workers, the problem of servants, religion, and politics, Ilgaz, who wrote about many issues such as the alphabet revolution and public education, mahyas in mosques, the cleanliness of mosques, natural resources such as coal and diamonds, and reconstruction activities, draws attention with her column “Our Problems (Dertlerimiz)” in Yeni İstanbul newspaper, which includes articles on economic, social, cultural, political and health issues that cover almost every field. In these articles, it is sometimes possible to read about the state of Turkish Cinema, a congress, an exhibition, social and cultural activities such as Forest Week, Book Week, noise and air pollution, internal migration, population density, economic issues such as the subsistence index, bread shortage, and vegetable prices, and sometimes a sports activity. In the same newspaper, in her column “Everyday A Topic, Through Women’s Eyes (Hergün Bir Konu, Kadın Gözüyle)”, Ilgaz also covered education, economy, social and cultural
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activities, art, and health issues. Ilgaz was also interested in press freedom, press activities, and problems.427
Ilgaz’s notes on her observations during and after her parliamentary term and her travels both in Turkey and abroad are the subject of a separate classification. She shared with her readers her feelings and thoughts on the difficulties and opportunities of city and village life, the economic, cultural, and social characteristics of these cities and villages, and the human element in these places. These articles, which were published in the newspaper columns under the titles “Travel Notes (Seyahat Notları)”, “Roadtrip Notes (Yolculuk Notları)”, “Notes from the City (Şehirden Notlar)”, “Interviews from the City (Şehirden Röportajlar)”, “From the City We Live in (Oturduğumuz Şehirden)”, “In Cities and Villages (Şehir ve Köylerde)”, “Ankara Letters (Ankara Mektupları)”, “Switzerland Letters (İsviçre Mektupları)”, “What I Saw in America (Amerika’da Gördüklerim)”, Ilgaz touched upon the zoning and infrastructure problems of cities, transportation, hygiene, marketplaces, historical and cultural characteristics of various districts such as Kocamustafapasa, Rami, Rumelihisarı. Her impressions of Migros and Pestalossi Children’s Village in her Swiss letters are also noteworthy (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 129-132).428 Ilgaz also shared her observations about the children’s village in her book What I Read, What I Saw, What I Wrote (Okuduklarım, Gördüklerim Yazdıklarım) and expressed her belief that brotherhood would be strengthened and love, compassion, and peace would prevail in the world through these villages that enabled the children of the world to communicate with each other (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 39-40). On the other hand, we witness that Ilgaz, who was very impressed by the Migros’ visit to Switzerland and included the success story of Migros in her columns, took an active role in the establishment of Migros Türk.429
Travel notes constitute a significant portion of Ilgaz’s writings. Her travel writings, which started with “Cyprus Notes (Kıbrıs Notları)” in Kadın Newspaper, also appeared from time to time in the columns of different periodicals. These notes can also be found in her books. For example, she wrote an article about Safranbolu Calligrapher Mehmet Efendi, who was described by Süheyl Ünver at the “Seminar on Spreading
427 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_006_551; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_015, 941.
428 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_240; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_242; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_006_546; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_ 025_1423; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1867.
429 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_394; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1519; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_038.
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Science to the Public” in Eflatun Magazine dated 1977 (Ilgaz, issue 106, 1977, p. 6 ).430 Her private archive contains her notes on the historical, geographical, and cultural characteristics of Safranbolu.431 Again, an article about Safranbolu houses was published in the September 1977 issue of Yeni Adam Magazine.432 Another article published by Ilgaz in the said magazine is about “Old Üsküdar”.433 In the November 24, 1954, dated Yeni İstanbul Newspaper, she included her impressions of her Gaziantep trip.434 One of the trips that Ilgaz wrote about was the Çanakkale trips published in the 87th issue of Yeni Defne Magazine.435
As someone who has witnessed the important thresholds of history throughout her life, Ilgaz also wrote about her views and thoughts on historical days and events. When she wrote about March 16, the occupation of Istanbul, she was still a student.436 The Second Constitutional Period,437 the proclamation of the Republic,438 May 19,439 April 23,440 the liberation of Izmir,441 the Mudanya Armistice Treaty,442 the Great Offensive and August 30 Victory Day,443 the Lausanne Conference,444 the May 27 Revolution,445 the remains of Kubilay Khan’s Naval Squadron446 were conveyed to the reader from the pen of Ilgaz, who personally witnessed many of these events.
However, as a philanthropist devoted to society, Ilgaz’s writings on social associations and foundations are also important. Charity Association (Yardım Sevenler Derneği),447 Children’s Friends Association (Çocuk Dostları Derneği),448 UN Turkish
430 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1003.
431 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2787, 4 pp.
432 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_007_642.
433 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_007_641.
434 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_282
435 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_038_2191.
436 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_502; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_008_649.
437 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_038_3182.
438 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_301; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_315; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_006_521; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_006_547; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_006_563; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_007_608; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1401; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2423.
439 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1456.
440 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1001; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_016_955; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_016_972.
441 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_263; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1402; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1722; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1402; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_015_945.
442 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1376; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1377.
443 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1883; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_443; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_007_606.
444 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1374.
445 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_039_2211.
446 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1040.
447 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_039_2210; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_288.
448 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_245; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_303.
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Group Association for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (BM İnsan Hakları ve Temel Hürriyetleri Sağlama ve Koruma Türk Grubu Derneği),449 Turkish Aeronautical Association Foundation (Türk Hava Kurumu Vakfı),450 UN and UNESCO,451 Turkish Women’s Union (Türk Kadınlar Birliği (TKB)),452 Tuberculosis Fight Associations (Verem Savaş Derneği),453 Darülaceze,454 Parent – Teacher Association (PTA) (Okul – Aile Birliği),455 Nature Conservation Foundation (Doğayı Koruma Vakfı),456 Turkish Handicrafts Promotion Association (Türk Elsanatlarını Tanıtma Derneği),457 Turkish Standards Institute (Türk Standart Enstitüsü),458 Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay),459 Turkish Hearing and Speech Rehabilitation Foundation (TİV) (Türkiye İşitme ve Konuşma Rehabilitasyon Vakfı),460 Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye (Türkiye Şehitlikleri İmar Vakfı)461 are just a few of these articles.
Among her articles are biographies of historical figures and memoirs on the anniversaries of their deaths. Erzurumlu İsmail Hakkı,462 Mevlana,463 Itri,464 Hızır Bey, the first City Chief of Istanbul,465 Talat Pasha,466 Makbule Esat Işık,467 Şukufe Ekitler,468 Şükufe Nihal,469 İsmayıl Hakkı Baltacıoğlu,470 Mehmet Akif,471 some of
449 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_439.
450 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_006_537.
451 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_007_648; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1780.
452 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_007_647.
453 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_017_980.
454 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1458.
455 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1461
456 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_014_924
457 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_384
458 KEBMVK HIÖA 10002_018_1002
459 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_037_2152
460 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_037_2153
461 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_037_2160.
462 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_006_545.
463 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1480.
464 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_020_1063
465 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_022_1186
466 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_281; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_007_638
467 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_293
468 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_037_2149
469 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2292; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_047_2881.
470 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_015_944.
471 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_023_!280; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_023_1275; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_037_2165.
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whom she met personally, she presented to the interest and knowledge of her readers. Atatürk and his revolutions are among the subjects she emphasized the most.472
The interviews with Ilgaz in these periodicals are also worth mentioning (Banoğlu, November-December 1991, pp.4-5).473 On May 7, 1955, she interviewed Miss Edith M. Gates, a member of the International Federation for Family Protection, and published it in Yeni İstanbul Newspaper. This interview, which was conducted for the first time in Turkey, emphasized family planning, family protection, and intermittent births (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 81).474
If we look at Ilgaz’s writings in the local press as far as we can reach from her archive donated to the Women’s Library, we can see that she wrote a 13-part series of articles titled “Children’s Work and Wishes after the Republic (Cumhuriyetten sonra çocuk işi ve dilekler)” in Akgün Newspaper.475 The newspaper clipping containing the 12th part of this series of articles bears the note “written in 1935”.476 In the 13th part, she mentions the book exhibition opened by Child Protection Agency on April 23, 1936.477 In a letter dated June 1938, we see that a reader who had read these articles in Akgün and had previously known her in absentia expressed his thanks and appreciation to Ilgaz for touching on children, which he considered to be the most important issue of a country.478 Another series of articles in Akgün is the “Announcements” series dated 1937. The first article of this series is on “Istanbul on the 14th Republic Day (14. Cumhuriyet Bayramı’nda İstanbul)”.479 The second one deals with the theme of “14th Republic Day and the People’s Platforms (14. Cumhuriyet Bayramı ve Halk
472 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_259; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_266; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_267; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_354; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_324; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_389; KEK HIÖA 10002_005_443; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_014_933; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_015_947; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_015_951; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_016_962; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_016_966_ KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_017_993; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1008; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1046; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1047; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1421; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1573; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1592; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1604; KEKMV HIÖA 10002_029_1699; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_037_2170; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_038_2188; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2431; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1592.
473 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1773; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_015; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2590; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2593; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2637; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2146
474 KEKBMVBMV HIÖA 10002_006_523.
475 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1730, KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1731; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1732.
476 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_024_1340
477 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1715.
478 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_011_745.
479 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1400.
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Kürsüleri)”.480 Another series consists of her notes from Grigory Petrov’s “In the Land of White Lilies (Beyaz Zambaklar Ülkesinde)”.481
Another local newspaper is the Çorum Newspaper, to which Ilgaz contributed not only with her writings but also personally to its publication. Ilgaz, who entered the Parliament for the second time as Çorum MP in 1946, accepted to help with the preparation of Çorum Newspaper upon the request of the Çorum Governor whom she met during her visit to the city. According to Ilgaz’s notes, this newspaper, which had been in publication since 1921 (on another note since the Second Constitutional Period), was inadequate in terms of information and content though inadequate in terms of printing and paper quality. It also did not contain any news about Çorum. Ilgaz, who was interested in the newspaper, which did not have a writing family, took on the role of the chief writer of the newspaper. She wrote articles in Çorum Newspaper from August 14, 1946, until November 23, 1949, and from this date until July 24, 1950, she was the chief writer.482 A 1949 dated letter sent to the Prime Ministry General Directorate of Press and Publications stated that she was the chief writer since July 1946.483 Another record stated that she managed the newspaper for five years, writing editorials until 1952. When the CHP lost power in 1950, Ilgaz says that she had to leave the newspaper for various reasons but does not provide any information about these reasons.484 As mentioned before, Ilgaz expresses that she left this 5-year newspaper collection to the library of the Kariye Museum in Edirnekapı, Istanbul (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 222). On another note, she wrote editorials every week for 6 years.485 In a letter dated July 4, 1947, Halis Bilaloğlu, the Governor of Çorum, thanked Ilgaz for her support to Çorum Newspaper.486 “Niyazi Mergen and 40 Years (Niyazi Mergen ve Kırk Yıl)”,487 “Welcoming the 25th Anniversary of the Republic (Cumhuriyet’in 25. Yıl Dçnümünü Karşılarken)”,488 “A new Turkish State in India (Hindistan’da Yeni BirTürk
480 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1401.
481 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_473; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_006_564.
482 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2085; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2724
483 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_036_2086.
484 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_045_2724.
485 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2623
486 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_034_1960
487 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1489
488 KEKBMV HIÖA10002_004_315
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Devleti)”,489 “The Constitution weighing 20 kilos (20 kilo ağırlığındaki anayasa)”,490 are some examples of her articles published in Çorum Newspaper.
Ilgaz, who also wrote articles in Safranbolu Newspaper while she was an MP of Çorum, published articles titled “The Help of Great America (Büyük Amerika’nın yardımı)”,491 “The words of a friendly Greek captain to be taken as an example (Dost bir yunanlı Kaptanın ibret alınacak sözleri)”,492 “Human Rights and Main Freedoms (İnsan hakları ve Ana prensipler)”,493 “The Health Plan of the Ruling Party (İktidar Partisinin Sağlık Planı)”,494 “Our Industrial Development from Karabük to Zonguldak (Sanayi kalkınmamız Karabük’ten Zonguldak’a)”,495 in the columns of this local newspaper in 1947.
Another newspaper in which we read Ilgaz’s writings in the same years was the Kadın Newspaper. Ilgaz was one of the writers of Kadın Newspaper from 1947 when the newspaper started to be published. Ilgaz donated 27 years of the Women's Newspaper archive496 to Beyazıt State Library (Ilgaz,.1981, p 223; Köse, 2006, p. 62).497 According to the information given by Davaz based on the interview she conducted with her, Ilgaz said that she donated all the issues of this newspaper to the Beyazıt State Library (Davaz, 2014, p.433).498 In a note in her private archive, she wrote that she donated 97 books, magazines, and newspapers to the Beyazıt State Library.499
Ilgaz’s travel writings can be found in the Kadın Newspaper, published by her friend İffet Halim Oruz. Her visit to Cyprus in 1948 was first published in Kadın Newspaper in 52 series between August 16, 1948, and October 3, 1949 (Göktürk Çetinkaya, 2019, p.3). Upon the interest the article attracted, she published her Cyprus travel notes in 1949 under the title Cyprus Notes (Kıbrıs Notları). This work was highly praised especially by Turkish Cypriots.500 Cyprus Notes was also serialized in Hür Söz, the local press of Cyprus.501 Some of the travel notes written by Ilgaz in Kadın
489 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_323
490 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1405.
491 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1385
492 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1384
493 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_439
494 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1668.
495 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1670.
496 28 volumes of this archive, up to January 1966, and according to another note, up to January 1968, are bound, and up to 1969 will be bound.
497 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2623; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2585;
498 1164 issues in total from 1947 to 1979.
499 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_041_2399, p.2.
500 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_398.
501 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1422. KEKBMV 10002_004_401.
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Newspaper are as follows: “Safranbolu Notes (Safranbolu Notları)” (1950), “Observations from Edirne (Edirne Intibaları)” (1950), “Two Days in Gaziantep (Gaziantep’te Geçen 2 Gün)” (1951), “Turizm and its important (Turizm ve Ehemmiyeti)” (1957) (Sarıyar, 2019, pp. 433-434; 436-438).
Although not published in Kadın Newspaper, Ilgaz’s notes on some of her travels with İffet Halim Oruz (Syria-Lebanon in 1951 and Switzerland in 1957) were published in her books Atatürk’e 100. Yıl Armağanı (100th Anniversary Gift to Atatürk) (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 123; 129-132) and Okuduklarım, Gördüklerim, Yazdıklarım (What I Read, What I Saw, What I Wrote) (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 120-124). Her notes on her travels to Syria and Lebanon are also available in her private archive that she donated to the Women’s Library.502 She was also invited to Pakistan. But she could not attend the invitation to Pakistan Women’s Association’s annual meeting in 1952 due to her husband’s illness (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 114-115).
One of the magazines Ilgaz contributed to the publication of was the Turkish Children’s Magazine. According to Ilgaz, who prepared the information column of the magazine published between 1950 and 1952, the magazine was published to support youth and children’s education at Eminönü People’s House, which Ilgaz headed and managed, and to help Child Protection Agency. Sold for 5 Turkish Kuruş, the magazine was mailed to the villages, and Ilgaz said that she received many letters of thanks on this occasion (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 223). This periodical, published to serve the purpose of Child Protection Agency and whose target audience was children, Ilgaz, under the heading “Useful Information (Faydalı Bilgiler)”, touched upon topics informing children about the Republic and the Presidents.503 On the occasion of the anniversary of Atatürk’s death, she wrote an article titled “Our Great Day of Mourning (Büyük Matem Günümüz)”.504 Ilgaz also prepared a “Children’s page” and on a children’s page dated September 10, 1953, she wrote about the opening of schools, eating candy, and the earthquake in Cyprus.505 In the same children’s column, she shared her feelings and thoughts about the August 30 Victory Day with children.506
The Parents and Teacher Association Bulletin was launched on June 26, 1947, by order of the Ministry of National Education to be published four times a year. After
502 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_0046_2735.
503 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_155.
504 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1573
505 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_321.
506 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1883.
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the change of government in 1950, its publication was suspended. According to Ilgaz, then Minister of National Education Şemsettin Sirer, who had seen the Turkish Children’s Magazine published in Istanbul, asked for Ilgaz’s help for the PTA Magazine that he wanted to be published in Ankara. Ilgaz, who accepted the request for help, stated that with this magazine they aimed to solve the difficulties encountered at school, at home, and in the environment. This was not difficult for Ilgaz, who had been writing about child and youth education and problems for years (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 223).507
To summarize, Ilgaz’s experience in journalism, as she expressed in her book 100th Anniversary Gift to Atatürk, enabled her to convey her values to the masses with articles that taught and guided in many subjects with the feeling of being a mother and teacher for the upbringing of the society (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 223).
3.1.1.1. Her Tafrikas (Serials)
The serials of Ilgaz were also published in the periodicals mentioned above. As far as we have been able to determine, “Children’s Affairs After the Republic (Cumhuriyetten Sonra Çocuk İşleri)” was published in Akgün Newspaper (13 series), “Ertuğrul Frigate’s Journey to Japan (Ertuğrul Fırkateyni’nin Japonya Seyahati)” was published in Yeni İstanbul Newspaper in 1956,508 “Cyprus Notes” were published in Kadın Newspaper and Hür Söz (Ilgaz, 1949. p. 157, Köse, 2006, p. 58)509 as a serial. In addition, “What I Saw in 33 Prisons (33 Cezaevinde Gördüklerim)” (26 series) was another series of writings by Ilgaz.510 “Celalis in the Ottoman Empire (Osmanlı İmparatorluğunda Celaliler)” was published in Yeni Adam511 and Tarih ve Edebiyat (History and Literature)512 magazines, and “A Secret Society in the National Struggle: Karakol Cemiyeti (Milli Mücadelede varlığı gizli kalan bir cemiyet: Kara-Kol Cemiyeti)” was published as an article in the Journal of History and Literature (January 1981, year: 17, sy. 193, pp. 10-20)513 and Yeni Defne.514
Apart from her articles on the Karakol Society (Karakol Cemiyeti) mentioned above, no information can be found on her tafrikas (serials) on this issue. However, in her private archive, there are notebooks in which she recorded her meetings with
507 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1901.
508 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1053
509 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1422.
510 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_366.
511 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_014_923.
512 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1044; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1037.
513 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_014_929
514 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_037_2169.
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members of the Karakol Society.515 The reason that prompted Ilgaz to write down these notes, which are important historical documents, was the presence of people who applied to the party and asked for help by mentioning their contributions to the National Struggle. Ilgaz, who was a member of the CHP Provincial Executive Board in 1938, also served as the head of the social branch. In this capacity, Ilgaz gathered information about those who had served in the National Struggle to bring them together with wealthy families, met with them, listened to their memories, and recorded them. Noting the painful stories of prominent figures such as Yenibahçeli Şükrü, Galatalı Şevket, and Refik İsmail, Ilgaz says that the Party utilized these notes and some of these figures later became members of parliament. She also published the self-sacrifices of the Karakol Society and Merdivenköy residents from these notebooks.516 She donated all her notebooks on this subject to Turkish Historical Society (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 53).517 In her private archive at the Women’s Library, there are the notes of her conversations with Asaf Görmez, the headman of Merdivenköy,518 and a draft interview of approximately 210 pages. In this notebook, which she titled “the Association for Defence of National Rights of Anatolia and Rumelia (Anadolu ve Rumeli Müdafaa-i Hukuk Cemiyeti)”, Ilgaz recorded her conversations with members of the Karakol Society.519
We see that Ilgaz’s knowledge and articles on this subject shed light on academic studies. Erol Ülker argues that Tarık Zafer Tunaya’s study titled Political Parties in Turkey, 1859-1952 was largely based on interviews with people associated with the Karakol Society, among whom was Hasene Ilgaz (Ülker, 2020, p.15). In his article titled “The Secret Organization of the National Struggle: Karakol Cemiyeti (1918-1920)”, Mehmet Akif Bal also refers to Ilgaz’s article in the Journal of History and Literature (Bal, 2022, vol. 130, p. 256, pp. 103-148). Another study referring to the same article is the work of Hasan Ali Polat and Osman Akandere, who wrote an article on Galatalı Şevket Bey, one of the leaders of the Karakol Society (Polat & Akandere, 2021, pp. 643-673). These studies are just a few examples that benefit from Ilgaz’s knowledge.
515 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1851; KEKBMEV HIÖA 10002_046_2775; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1828
516 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_033; KEK HIÖA 10002_001_034; KEK HIÖA 10002_037_2169
517 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_043_2585, p.2; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_034, p.1; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1851, p.132-133.
518 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2646, 17 pp.
519 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1851.
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Ilgaz’s travel notes, which were published as a series, are also worth mentioning because the notes she kept from her travels are also a rich source. It is possible to read her notes on “What I Saw in America (Amerika’da Gördüklerim)” and “Village Trips and Switzerland (Köy Gezileri ve İsviçre)” under the title “Switzerland Letters (İsviçre Mektupları)” in Yeni İstanbul Newspaper. Bulut, who wrote an article on her writings in Yeni Defne magazine, mentions in one of her articles in the magazine in question that Ilgaz recorded that she “kept armfuls of notes” from her 45-day trip to America in 1953 (Bulut, 2018, p. 78). However, we could not find these notes in the archive she donated to the Women’s Library. The series of articles about her visits to Bandırma520 in August 1955 and Konya521 in September 1955 were also written based on her travel notes. Although we could not directly access an article of her titled “Child and Youth Education”, the education of children and youth, current problems and solution proposals are among the most common topics in Ilgaz’s writings.522 In addition, Ilgaz addressed the needs, problems, social, cultural, and economic life of the villages and cities she visited in Turkey, particularly Istanbul.
3.1.2. Her Books
3.1.2.1 Cyprus Notes, 1949
The book Cyprus Notes (Kıbrıs Notları) consists of Ilgaz’s memoirs, which began to be published in Kadın Newspaper on the occasion of her trip to Cyprus in 1948 with a group of teachers and her friend İffet Halim Oruz (Ilgaz, 1949. p. 157). On August 2, 1948, while she was still in Cyprus, Ilgaz sent her first article to Kadın Newspaper and was received with a kindness that even she had not imagined. She expresses that the reason that encouraged her to write this work was that the Turkish Cypriots, who had lost contact with the Republic of Turkey since 1878 due to political reasons, had adopted the revolution in Turkey and remained loyal to it (Ilgaz, 1949, Preface). In the book published by Doğan Kardeş Publications in 1949, Ilgaz gives place to her travel program and shares the memories she observed during her trip. Describing the historical sites, geography, and people of Cyprus, Ilgaz’s work is
520 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1447; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1451; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1479; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1493
521 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1431, KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1464; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1465; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1469; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1470; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1471; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1472; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1480.
522 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1396; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1463; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1473; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_508; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_032_1827; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_369; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_419.
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important in terms of reflecting the administrative, geographical, historical, socio-cultural, and economic characteristics of Cyprus at that period. In this work, Ilgaz vividly describes the re-established contact with Turkey and reveals the revitalized relations with the Turkish Cypriots after 70 years. These developments, which were also reflected in the newspapers of the period, find expression in Ilgaz’s pen; we read from her point of view the Cyprus Rally on November 28th and the Ankara Rallies on December 25th, and the meetings of 108 teachers from Cyprus with İnönü at the Çankaya Mansion on July 29, 1949, as a return visit (Ilgaz, 1949, pp.157-159; Ulus, 28 July 1949, p. 3). This work of Ilgaz, who also touches upon the repercussions of the radio speech she made on July 27, 1949, on the occasion of the visit of Cypriot teachers to the motherland, has been a reference for many academic studies as well as her other works. The work, which was welcomed with great interest and joy by the inhabitants of Cyprus, even touched the hearts of a Cypriot 6th-grade student.523
The draft preface of the second edition of the work and the notes on the organization of the visit of Cypriot teachers to Turkey between July 24 and August 22, 1949, which were added to this edition, are available in the Archive of the Women’s Library.524 Another important note about the work is related to Ilgaz’s petition to the Ministry of National Education on October 19, 1949, to recommend her work to schools.525 According to the letter of Minister of National Education Tahsin Banguoğlu dated May 6, 1950, the work was examined by the Department of Education and Training (Talim ve Terbiye Dairesi) and was recommended to high school and equivalent school students through the Journal of Communiqués (Tebliğler Dergisi).526 In addition, “Cyprus Notes” appears to have been published in the Kadın Newspaper as well as the Hür Söz Newspaper.527 There is also a review of the book written by Ahmet Cemal Gazioğlu (Hür Söz, 6 September 1949, p. 2).528
After returning home, Ilgaz, Oruz, and Sacit Öncel, the president of the Association of Teachers’ School Graduates (Öğretmen Okullarını Bitirenler Cemiyeti) and the principal of Işık High School, who had organized the trip, were received by the
523 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_011_743.
524 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_138; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_139; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_031_1811.
525 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_012_775
526 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_013_876; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_057; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_013_922; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_013_877.
527 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1422.
528 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_398.
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then President İsmet İnönü. Upon İnönü’s request, a report was prepared and presented to İsmet İnönü.529 This report prepared by Association of Cypriot Schools Graduates (Kıbrıs Okullarından Yetişenler Cemiyeti) is also available in Ilgaz’s private archive. The report, prepared by a delegation consisting of members of Association of Cypriot Schools Graduates and Ilgaz and Oruz, includes observations and suggestions on the life of the people in the region and the Turks living in Cyprus and their social, cultural, and economic needs. These observations are based on the Cyprus trip that took place on July 20-August 10, 1948.530 The report was also the subject of an academic study published by Mehmet Balyemez (Balyemez, 2020).
Ilgaz, whose interest in Cyprus and the Turkish Cypriots began with this trip, continued to write about Cyprus, which she visited frequently and took a close interest in the following years. Her article on “Cyprus Turkish Traditions and Customs (Kıbrıs Türk Gelenek ve Görenekleri)” was published in the Cyprus Special Issue of the Journal of Turkish Folklore Research (Year:15, Volume:8, No:176 March 1964) (Gündoğan, 2008, p.13 and 70). On February 8, 1950, Ilgaz spoke at the “Cyprus” meeting of the Teachers’ Solidarity Association (Öğretmenler Yardımlaşma Derneği), and according to the information provided by Sesışık Newspaper, in her speech, she touched upon the observations of her visit to Cyprus in 1948, the past and present social and political situation of Cyprus, its history, geography, cultural characteristics, and Namık Kemal, who was exiled in Magosa for three years, and her speech, which lasted one and a half hours, was listened to with great interest and excitement. The speech had such an impact that the columns of Sesışık Newspaper of February 10 described it as “a poem from beginning to end”.531
3.1.2.2. Unforgettable Years, 1970
Unforgettable Years (Unutulmayan Yıllar), published by Babıali Aziz Uçtay Matbaası in 1970, contains Ilgaz’s memories of her youth. In this book, Ilgaz tells the reader about the memories and traditions of a period of fires, wars, epidemics, and famine through her memories of her school years. Ilgaz’s initiation into the neighborhood school conveys to us the traditional codes of a child born in the last period of the Ottoman Empire stepping into education (Ilgaz, 1970, pp. 8-10). We learn about the excitement of the neighborhood because of the Leblebici Horhor play to be
529 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_163.
530 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_033_1904.
531 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_027_1587.
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performed in the neighborhood (p.8-10) and the preparations for the Day of Ashura (p.21-23) from Ilgaz’s testimony. Gümüşoğlu also conveys these memories in her work (Gümüşoğlu, 2001, pp. 24-25; Gümüşoğlu, 2022, p. 428).
The book also sheds light on the historical events of the period. Historical events such as the memory of Turkish aviation, which gave its first martyrs in 1914 (pp. 3-4), the occupation of Istanbul on March 16, 1920 (pp. 41-46), the great Aksaray fire (pp. 18-20), and the National Struggle (pp. 47-49) are presented to the reader through Ilgaz’s feelings. We also read Ilgaz’s vivid memories of the new invention of the age, the automobile (pp. 11-12) and the horse-drawn tram (pp. 15-17). She also included the story of the three martyred aviators in her later work, 100th Anniversary Gift to Atatürk (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 127-129).
On July 19, 1972, in Tercüman Newspaper, Reşat Ekrem Koçu wrote a column about Ilgaz’s views on this work.532
3.1.2.3. İstanbul Social Services Coordination Board Activities533, 1970
This is a work written by Ilgaz the chairman of the Social Services Coordination Board. In the preface of her book, Ilgaz explains the purpose of writing this work as sharing with the public the work on Turkey’s social activities and organization. According to Ilgaz, the social security between an individual, his/her family, and all citizens in a society is realized through mutual aid. For this reason, in modern societies, individuals are always engaged in social aid and cultural activities in addition to their work (Ilgaz, 1970, p. 5).
Ilgaz (pp. 8-10), who primarily cites the examples of the United States and the United Kingdom, also mentions the social services conferences convened to guide the work of associations and foundations that have adopted social services as their mission. The first conference was held on December 27, 1959, the second on May 5-8, 1962, and the third on December 11-14, 1968 (p.11 and p. 22). Ilgaz, who also gives place to the establishment and regulations of the Istanbul Social Services Coordination Board in the book, states that the board was freed from its temporary status with the first congress held on February 17, 1962, as a result of the efforts initiated by the Istanbul Health Directorate in March 1959 for the formation of the board (p. 11). Finally, the
532 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_006_536.
533 İstanbul Sosyal Hizmetler Koordinasyon Kurulu Çalışmaları
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book includes the names of 6900 associations within the Istanbul Social Services Coordination Board in alphabetical order (pp. 57-256).
3.1.2.4. 100th Anniversary Gift to Atatürk534, 1981
This book was prepared as a tribute to Atatürk’s 100th birth anniversary and presented to those who helped in the celebration program prepared by the Federation of Social Services. Hasene Ilgaz, who states that as the youth of the period of the struggle for independence, they spent their lives devoting themselves to this sacred path, expresses the reason for writing this book in the preface of the book as follows: “1981 coincides with the 100th birth year of our ancestor. On behalf of our womanhood walking in his footsteps, I thought about writing a summary of some of my work. This is how a lifetime has passed in the society I grew up in, and in which I was raised, in such an active, lively, and exciting way. I present my memoirs as a gift to his sacred soul and bow in respect to his spiritual presence” (Preface, p. 5). According to a document dated October 16, 1980, found in her private archive at the Women’s Library, Ilgaz applied to the Ministry of Culture for the publication of the book and was advised to apply to the committee since all the work related to the celebration was carried out by the 100th Anniversary Celebration Coordination Committee.535
The book is roughly divided into 6 chapters. In the first part of the book, Ilgaz includes the program for the 100th anniversary of Atatürk’s birth, anecdotes from her memories of the War of National Struggle and the first period of the Republic, and the works carried out by her during this period. In the second part titled “Notes from my notebook”, Ilgaz touches upon her activities and memories as the 7th term Hatay and 8th term parliament member from Çorum. The third section is devoted to the “Proposals” she made as an MP, and there are also anecdotes from the Parliament. The fourth chapter includes various “invitations” and meetings she attended. The fifth chapter is devoted to the “social work” that Ilgaz was involved in and was happy to be involved in throughout her life. Anecdotes and memories about Atatürk are found in almost all chapters of the book. The sixth chapter contains a study on “Armenian events in the East” by her brother, Naval Staff Major Hikmet Ilgaz. Ilgaz says that this work consists of real-life stories of families living in and around Van during the First World War (p. 226).
534 Atatürk’e 100. Yıl Armağanı
535 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_020_1092.
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3.1.2.5. The Ertuğrul Frigate (100th Anniversary Gift)536, 1990
This book, a work prepared by Ilgaz together with her brother Arif Hikmet Fevzi Ilgaz, was published for the 100th anniversary of the Ertuğrul Frigate Disaster. The book, published by the Turkish Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation, tells the sad story of Turkish sailors who traveled to Japan during the reign of Abdul Hamid II. In 1888, the Ertuğrul Frigate, which set out to celebrate the revolutionary movements of the Japanese Emperor Meiji and to pay a return visit, sank in the Japanese sea while returning to Turkey 19 months later after a difficult voyage of nearly two years, and more than 500 Turkish sailors were martyred in this disaster.537 According to the information given by Hasene Ilgaz, this work, which was the result of ten years of labor with her brother Hikmet Ilgaz, was published as serials in Yeni İstanbul Newspaper in 1956.538 Ilgaz also gave place to this incident in her book What I Read What I Saw What I Wrote (Okuduklarım Gördüklerim Yazdıklarım ) (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 41-42).
According to Ilgaz, this disaster happened in plain sight. During the reign of Abdul Hamid II, a time of oppression, arrogance, and ignorance, despite reports that the ship “could not sail”, “the will of the palace was considered as a paste that strengthened the worm-eaten boat, the rotting boiler, the moldy sail, and the ship was plastered with this and set sail” (Ilgaz, 1990, p. 5).
On the 100th anniversary of the Ertuğrul Frigate disaster, a group from the Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye contacted the Japanese Embassy in Ankara and requested to visit the martyrs’ memorial in Japan for the martyrs of the Ertuğrul Frigate. A commemoration ceremony for the martyrs of the Ertuğrul Frigate was organized in Japan in June 1990 (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 41).
Ilgaz was closely interested in this issue at various periods of her life. In 1973, when the construction of a monument for the martyrs was on the agenda, Ilgaz wrote that the Japanese authorities applied to the Turkish authorities and asked them to contribute to the cost.539 Ilgaz was also invited to the Japanese Tea Ceremony held on June 11, 1977, at the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul in memory of Atatürk and the martyrs of the Ertuğrul Frigate. The ceremony was organized by Soi Yamada, the tenth president of the Japanese Tea School, to fulfill the will of his father, who admired
536 Ertuğrul Fırkateyni (100. Yıl Armağanı)
537 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2300; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2743, p. 2.
538 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_004_357.
539 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_015_948.
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Atatürk. Yamada’s father had witnessed the Ertuğrul Frigate disaster, collected aid for the martyrs, and came to Turkey in 1892 with the survivors of the disaster and delivered the aid to the families of the martyrs. According to Ilgaz, Yamada’s father, who stayed in Turkey as a state guest for 18 months, laid the foundation of Turkish-Japanese friendship (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 126-127). Yamada’s father, who also met and befriended Atatürk on a trip to Istanbul, wanted to organize a Japanese tea ceremony at Dolmabahçe in his memory upon news of Atatürk’s death, but was unable to do so and bequeathed this wish to his son (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 127). As reflected in the lines of Hasene Ilgaz in Yeni Defne Magazine and in the October 1977 issue of Yeni Adam Magazine, we witness that the son Yamada fulfilled his father’s will on June 11, 1977.540
3.1.2.6. The Story of a Girls’ Boarding School, from 1915 to 1921541, 1991
The book tells the “story of a girls’ boarding school” during the First World War and the War of Independence through Ilgaz’s testimony. The story that began in 1915 ended in 1921, and the 120 young people who graduated from the school were dispersed to all corners of the country to pass on the ideals and revolutions of Republican Turkey to new generations (Ilgaz, 1991a, p.5 and p.30).
In the book, we read the memories of Ilgaz, who won the exams of Çapa Girls’ Teacher Training School, which she entered upon her father’s request, during her years of education at the Teacher Training School. Her 5-year boarding school memories are important in terms of revealing the difficulties experienced during the Armistice Period and the conditions that raised the Hasene Ilgaz of the future and making sense of the thoughts and activities to which she devoted her life. The book also sheds light on the emergence of the Republican woman in the case of Hasene Ilgaz a Turkish woman who was born in the last period of the Ottoman Empire, educated during the National Struggle, and was among the first teachers of the Republic. These memories, which she summarizes under the title “Our generation and me (Bizim Kuşak ve Ben)”, are like the story of the conditions that were the making of Ilgaz (pp. 30-32).
The anecdotes about her adventure of starting school and her teachers are also important in terms of reflecting the tradition of girls’ education in a girls’ teachers’ school in the late Ottoman period. This is because their teachers not only teach them lessons but also tell them cautionary tales to guide them to become “good citizens,
540 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_037_2167; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_007_643; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_044_2603.
541 1915’ten 1921’e Kadar Yatılı Bir Kız Okulunun Öyküsü
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family heads with strong character, patriots and hardworking individuals” (pp. 15-16). Drawing attention to another important point in this context, Ilgaz says that “in our generation, it was only possible for girls to become teachers” and adds that she and her father loved teaching (p. 8).
Another important narration in the book is the historical events such as the troubles caused by the First World War, the Çanakkale Victory, and the occupation of Istanbul on March 16, which she describes as “the most vulgar and dishonorable rape in the history of the world” (p. 12), the resistance in her schools after the occupation, the rallies organized after the occupation, and the great Aksaray fire. The example of solidarity in her class during the war years reflects the understanding of social solidarity of the period. Ilgaz describes this solidarity as “Our school, our teaching staff was a community of understanding” (pp. 26-27). Another interesting anecdote is the mevlit recited by their friend Münire, who would later marry Muhsin Ertuğrul, for the martyrs of Çanakkale and the soldiers martyred by the occupation army in the Letafet apartment (p. 29).
The book is also a remarkable work in terms of showing the mission of the first generation of teachers of the Republican era. Ilgaz tells the story of how the Ministry of National Education, under Atatürk’s directive, assigned teachers to villages without teachers, and Ilgaz herself, with the teachers and inspectors around her, undertook the educational work of the neighborhood where she lived and worked. Since civil servants, teachers and women could not become party members in those years, they did all these activities voluntarily. Ilgaz and her generation made it their mission to explain and teach Atatürk’s revolutions to people for the development of a society that had just emerged from the war, to fulfill this duty, which they regarded as a cultural service, they worked to raise the public awareness by running from pulpit to pulpit, regardless of snow and winter, mountain and hill (pp. 30-31). Ilgaz, who undertook these duties without neglecting her teaching, describes this process as “I was both growing and being trained” (p. 31).
3.1.2.7. What I Read, What I Saw, What I Wrote, 1991
One of the works that Ilgaz said she did for her friends was also this book titled What I Read, What I Saw, What I Wrote (Okuduklarım Gördüklerim Yazdıklarım). Published by Özyürek Publishing House in 1991, the book contains memoirs from the Atatürk and İnönü periods. The book also includes some of the articles she wrote in various periodicals. In this work, which also involves her observations and studies in
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the context of foundation and association work, it is possible to access Ilgaz’s views on sovereignty, womanhood, etc. Unlike her other works, the book comprises proverbs and travel notes. The couplets written for Ilgaz by Behçet Kemal Çağlar and Tahir Karaoğuz in this book are also worth mentioning in terms of showing her role in social activities (p. 125). The second edition of the book was published in 2011 by Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye.
3.1.2.8. Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye542, 1986
It was written by Ilgaz on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the martyrdom and the 71st anniversary of the Çanakkale Victory. In this 12-page brochure, Ilgaz, as the president of Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye, touches upon the history of martyrdom. She also mentions the martyrs’ cemeteries and activities carried out within the martyrdom.
3.1.2.9. Booklet of Conferences Given by Members of the Republican People’s Party Istanbul Provincial Women’s Branch543
After the May 27, 1960 coup d'état, the CHP Istanbul Provincial Women’s Branch revised its work plan in light of changing conditions and the new constitution, and since political activities were banned, it determined programs to evaluate new developments to inform and enlighten Turkish women in the context of social and cultural activities. Within the framework of these programs, seminars, conferences, and trips were organized, and topics such as the responsibilities and duties of Turkish women, the revolutions of the Republic, and Atatürk’s principles, mutual love, and tolerance were addressed. As stated in the foreword of the book by Ilgaz the Chairperson of the CHP Istanbul Provincial Women’s Branch, this work contains some of these conferences.544
The content of the book is remarkable in terms of the ideas it seeks to convey to society. In the book, topics of Conferences given by members of CHP Istanbul Provincial Women’s Branch are noteworthy in terms of showing the CHP’s approach to the coup. Some of these titles are as follows: “The Constitution of the Constituent Assembly (pp.7-16)”, “Referendum (pp.17-24)”, “The Evolution of the Constitution (pp.25-30)”, “Social and Economic Rights, the Third Part of the Constitution to be submitted to the People’s Vote on July 9, 1961 (pp.31-36))”, “The Birth of Democracy
542 Türkiye Şehitlikleri İmar Vakfı.
543 CHP İstanbul İl Kadın Kolu Üyeleri Tarafından Verilen Konferanslar Kitapçığı
544 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1679.
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(pp. 37-46)”, “Secularism (pp. 47-60)” and “The Progressive Phases of the Republican People’s Party (pp. 61-71)”.545
In a speech in Eskişehir within the framework of these programs, Ilgaz described May 27 as a revolution and claimed that it was a great lesson for Turkish womanhood. Because according to Ilgaz, as mentioned above, May 27 showed that women should pay closer attention to their men, and the new constitution that came into force after the revolution and its light laid the foundations of the second Republic on social causes.546
3.1.2.10. Atatürk: From Birth to Death547, 1962
This booklet, written on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of Atatürk’s death, includes a brief biography of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and a chronological overview of his activities. As a justification for the publication of the booklet, which was published by Sulhi Garan Printing House in 1962, Ilgaz stated that on the 25th anniversary of his death, she aimed to once again express her devotion to Atatürk, who was an example for young people with his life and services. By giving Atatürk’s services chronologically, Ilgaz especially purposed to facilitate researchers to study his life. According to Ilgaz, understanding Atatürk, a unique commander and a revolutionary statesman, was a matter of science.548
3.2. Her Thoughts
It is possible to evaluate Ilgaz’s views and opinions through her published works, her speeches on various occasions, and her writings in periodicals. As mentioned above, the range of views and opinions written by Ilgaz is quite wide. She wrote about her feelings and thoughts on many subjects ranging from history, economy, social problems, education, family life, children and youth, social aid activities, cultural and artistic activities, politics, literature, and health. Here we will focus on Ilgaz’s views and opinions, which constitute a large part of her thought.
3.2.1. Atatürk’s Revolutions and Ilgaz’s Educational Thought
The most important factor shaping Ilgaz’s feelings, thoughts, and actions throughout her life is her belief, love, and devotion to Atatürk. This infinite faith, gratitude, and appreciation for Atatürk also form the basis of her unconditional commitment to Atatürk’s ideas and revolutions. As the granddaughter of a Halveti
545 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1679
546 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_040_2295, p. 3.
547 Atatürk: Doğumundan Ölümüne Kadar
548 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_028_1629; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_022_1227; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_035_1997.
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grandfather from Safranbolu and the daughter of a Mevlevi father, these principles, and ideas that she took as her motto seem to have been blended in the socio-cultural environment of the Kocamustafapaşa neighborhood, where she spent her childhood, youth and even her first years as a teacher, and which embodies religious and traditional norms. It is possible to trace this approach, especially in her writings and speeches in which she expresses her thoughts on the burqa and veil. Ilgaz argues that the only thing among Atatürk’s revolutions that he did not insist on was the burqa for women and that he left it to time, believing that one day there would be no such thing as wearing a burqa. As a matter of fact, in 1960, when they received news that women in several villages were wearing the burqa, they took overcoats to these villages with the Women’s Union (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 22 and 42). In another article she wrote in the Journal of History and Literature, she noted that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk sent a notification to Trabzon Governor Sait Bey, who had banned the burqa and veil after the Hat Law (Şapka Kanunu), informing him that it was not right for him to take a decision about the veil and that he should leave it to the course of events.549 To summarize, according to Ilgaz, who carries the same views and opinions in her columns in periodicals, the issue of women and the burqa is not a matter of law, nor is it related to reaction and bigotry. On the contrary, it is a matter of male oppression.550 Ilgaz argues that the draft law in the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (TBMM) is a draft that prohibits the wearing of the burqa and emphasizes that the struggle is against the burqa and the veil, that Atatürk did not have a radical stance on women’s veiling, and that he left Turkish women free in terms of clothing.551
According to Ilgaz, Atatürk’s revolutions, which she characterized as “moves that chase each other like enthusiastic waves”, are interconnected. These revolutions, which pull the Turkish nation from the past to the future, are also the preparers of future happiness with their guiding aspect (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 22). Born as an idea in 1907, Atatürk’s revolutions began to be implemented on May 19, 1919, the day Atatürk set foot in Samsun. Atatürk’s revolutions were as much a revolution and uprising as they were a reform movement. It is a society’s rebellion against its own habits and inner worlds (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 30). These revolutions were steps taken as a necessity of
549 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_019_1046.
550 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1421; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1537; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1437; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_003_264.
551 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_026_1537.
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modern civilization and democracy. As a matter of fact, “Atatürk wanted to build the new Turkey on the spirit of democracy, sovereignty of the national will and foundation of contemporary civilization” (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 102).552 “Civilization is the most valuable fruit of peace and order among people”. States protect and maintain civilization with the laws they regulate, and individuals protect and maintain civilization with their conscience (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 17).553 In this context, the Republic, as a regime of virtue, envisages the conformity of the national will with the principles of law and justice. Turkish Democracy depends on the Turkish Republic. Rooting democracy means reinforcing the Republic (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 18 and p. 39). The goal of the Turkish Revolutions, which were made for the Turkish nation to progress and live honorably and independently, is Turkish nationalism, and its defenders are the young generations, women, and teachers (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 30 and p. 32). Contemporary civilization and democracy are a goal that the Turkish nation must pursue forever (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 103).
Ilgaz also identifies democracy with the idea of national sovereignty and declares that sovereignty, which she considers to be the fundamental basis and constructive power of the Turkish state, is based on the national will of the community called the nation, and that it is the indivisible and inalienable will of the nation. In this respect, sovereignty has acquired a democratic character. In Ilgaz, national sovereignty has a personality, an independent identity, and values separate from and above individuals. National sovereignty and the notion of national will, which is a natural consequence of it, entered our lives during the National Struggle, with Atatürk’s determination and resolve, and became a fundamental principle of public law (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 68-69).
Ilgaz claims that Atatürk himself was the teacher of his revolutions and that the Alphabet Revolution was one of his greatest revolutions. With this revolution, Atatürk “tied his revolutions to the minds of the world” and became a source of inspiration for those who wanted to ensure peace and prosperity (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 22).554 For Ilgaz, the second great revolution was women’s rights. Under Atatürk’s leadership, Turkish women gained the right to participate in municipal elections in 1930, and on December 5, 1934, they gained the right to be elected as members of parliament. Thus, every
552 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_018_1001.
553 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_002_154, p. 9.
554 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1421.
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Turkish woman at the age of 22 had the right to vote and those at the age of 30 had the right to be elected (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 22).555 In Ilgaz’s words, the adoption of Latin letters and women’s rights constitute the foundation of the Republic. The alphabet revolution is important because it paved the way for society to learn easily and be well educated, and thus for development and progress, while women’s rights are important in terms of showing the duties and responsibilities of women and the unshakable role of women in society.556
On the other hand, Ilgaz points out that it is not possible to change old and deep-rooted customs, beliefs, and traditions in one fell swoop, and believes that the rights granted to Turkish women by Atatürk will take root with a long period of education, development, and upbringing. In this context, Ilgaz mentions that women’s associations were established in our country, as in the rest of the world, based on this approach and says that they aimed to develop Turkish women in the social and cultural field under the umbrella of the Women’s Union. Ilgaz laments that despite all their efforts, the Turkish Women’s Union could not impose itself on the society, and points out that their efforts slackened during the transition to multi-party life, which she defines as the era of democracy, but still expresses her belief that everything has the possibility of improvement as long as they “believe, work and make forward moves” (Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 22-23).
In Ilgaz’s thought, freedom and democracy are also related to education. Freedom means “the ability of human beings to find the right path with their intelligence and to consciously obey the laws of nature and society”. Nations that embrace freedom and democracy set an example for their environment with their farsightedness (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 158). Freedom, which is “both the main means of development and its result”, is also essential for the development of the personality.557 Ilgaz believes that the way to this is through education and argues that the countries that successfully maintain their democracies are those that succeed in public education (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 159). Believing that undigested freedom would bring anarchy, Ilgaz states that when blacks in America were given their freedom, they objected by saying “We are hungry, we want our masters”. The freedom that is given to the people through a revolution or a reform cannot be used properly if the people are not educated. The
555 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1421.
556 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1421
557 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_005_439.
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more easily freedom is acquired, the more easily it is lost (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 144). Another issue necessary for the victory of democracy is to respect people’s opinions and thoughts. “Not to get angry easily, not to be vindictive, to know how to speak and listen, to respect opinions, to be able to say good is good and bad is bad”... Democracy will not evolve unless these are respected. For the triumph of democracy, citizens who can see, speak, and express their problems are needed (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 54-55).
As can be seen, for Ilgaz, education is the beginning of everything. Because a lack of knowledge leads people to wrong thoughts and paths (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 158). Ignorance is the greatest danger in democratic societies (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 84). There are only schools as a means of upbringing. However, in addition to these institutions, which have certain conditions within their official procedures, out-of-school opportunities for education, especially for public education, should also be planned. This is because the success of democracy depends on the success of public education. According to Ilgaz, who establishes a positive relationship between public education and the success and continuity of democracy, “introducing the people to themselves, regulating their relations with each other, respecting each other’s opinions, earning rightfully, respecting the law, and loving each other is a cultural work... national culture is the basis of statehood. Only public education can provide this” (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 159).
As a matter of fact, a series of initiatives were taken for public education in Turkey; Public Classrooms (Halk Dershaneleri) established in 1926 were transformed into National Schools (Millet Mektepleri) on January 1, 1929, with the adoption of the new letters on November 1, 1928; the opening day of National Schools was celebrated as “Maarif Feast” (Ilgaz, 1981, 159), and Atatürk was given the title of head teacher (Ilgaz, 1991b, p.52). According to Ilgaz, these schools, which operated from 1928 to 1935, taught literacy, arithmetic, and various other subjects to the public. Ilgaz states that according to a study conducted by the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, 51816 teachers were employed in these schools, 2486845 citizens benefited from this opportunity, and 2619439 liras were spent in 8 years (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 159).558 Ilgaz, who believes that this education should be continuous, laments that although efforts have been made since the Republic to educate and teach society and to save it from ignorance, this has not been realized properly (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 159).
558 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_046_2772, p.33-34.
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3.2.2. Women’s Rights and Ilgaz’s Approach to Women’s Rights
As mentioned above, women’s movements and women’s rights are among Ilgaz’s most frequently addressed topics, both in her speeches at various events and in her writings and notes. To briefly summarize her views and approach on this subject, according to Ilgaz, the rights that Western countries began to give to women in the 19th century had to Turkish women hundreds of years before Christ. Turkish women worked alongside their men, fought together on the front lines, and took part in political development. In the historical past, there are women who took part in state administration together with their husbands, the khans. Until the Ottoman Empire, women existed in different civilizations and in different positions. Ilgaz argues that women were removed from all social and political environments in the Ottoman Empire and states that in the Second Constitutional Period, women such as Halide Edip, Fatma Aliye, Nimet Muhtar, Ulviye Mevlan made attempts both in the field of association and in the press to end this bondage. In this process, pioneering women such as Bedra Osman also took their first steps into business life (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 50-52).559
The Turkish women’s movement and women’s quest for rights, which began to sprout in the late Ottoman period, gained its true meaning in the Republican era. According to Ilgaz, the Republican era gave Turkish women all the rights of citizenship. With the adoption of the Civil Code in 1926, equality between men and women was achieved, and four years later, in 1930, women obtained the right to participate in municipal elections, and in 1934, with Law No. 2630, the right to become members of parliament, and thus Turkish womanhood gained a respected place in the world (Banoğlu; 1989, p. 35, p. 4; Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 55).560 Noting that women could now become judges, magistrates, doctors, architects, and civil servants, Ilgaz points out that many of the revolutions on women’s issues were realized, but that there was resistance from tradition regarding women’s education, clothing, especially the burqa and polygamy (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 48-49; Ilgaz, 1981, p. 22). Ilgaz, who, as we have mentioned before, always emphasizes that Atatürk had left the issue of women’s clothing to time, also has a remarkable approach in her belief that with the transition to multi-party life, especially during the DP government, the progress made in women’s rights and women’s achievements during the period of Atatürk and the one-party
559 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_001_071, pp. 2-4.
560 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_029_1725.
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government was weakened (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 23). According to Ilgaz, “Unfortunately, the great right given to our womanhood by the Republic has weakened day by day and the number of women in the National Assembly has decreased” (Ilgaz, 1991b, pp. 54-55).
Ilgaz starts the process of Turkish women gaining their political rights and entering the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye with the 1923 Assembly and appreciates the struggle of Tunalı Hilmi Bey for the political rights of Turkish women in the Assembly on April 30, 1923. This idea, which was not yet accepted at the time, became the basis for a series of regulations on women’s rights until December 5, 1934, when Turkish women obtained the right to vote and be elected. In the 1926 Parliament, the Civil Code, in the 1930 Parliament, the law on the election of women members to municipalities, and deputies in the 1934 Parliament, the law allowing women to become members of parliament was adopted, and Turkish women took part in the 1935 Parliament for the first time. The Fifth Parliament opened on March 1, 1935, with the participation of 18 women members of the parliament (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 15)
3.2.3. Ilgaz’s Political Views
For Ilgaz, politics is “a force that loses the work of a lifetime in a second. It is the skill of adjusting oneself according to the conditions one finds oneself in”. Ilgaz, who believed in the importance and necessity of a level discussion in politics, expressed this idea at every opportunity (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 103; Ilgaz, 1981, pp. 112-113). Ilgaz believed that partisanship in politics caused great harm to the country and that it was necessary to say right was right and wrong was wrong, no matter who said it, and emphasized that the main goal was to serve the nation and the state. Ilgaz, who includes various anecdotes on this subject in her notes, did not change her party during the years when the Democratic Party came to power, despite the demand of the ruling party and the request of some people around her, she did not even accept to be an independent candidate even at the cost of losing her parliamentary seat in Çorum, but when there was an issue for the benefit of the country and the citizens, she took part in it regardless of which party was involved (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 138 and pp. 148-150).
According to Ilgaz, who has made service to society her motto in all her work throughout her life, a useful person can be useful everywhere. It is also important to ensure social balance in society by having valuable people in the ranks of each party instead of concentrating values in a single camp (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 139). Ilgaz also reacted against her fellow party members who criticized her for meeting with Adnan Menderes, saying “Do not help them, let them be destroyed”, and stated that as a mother and a
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woman, she could not consent to any destruction that would harm the society and future generations, that they had their sweat and labor on every inch of the soil of the country, that her generation, her children and grandchildren did not deserve this destruction, and that she would say what she thought was right was right and what she thought was wrong was wrong as a duty of citizenship (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 150).
Turkish nationalism is also a determining factor in Ilgaz’s politics. Indeed, according to her, the goal of Atatürk’s revolutions was Turkish nationalism (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 30). Ilgaz defines nationality as “a political and social committee formed by citizens bound together by unity of language, culture and ideals” and considers ethnicities such as Circassian, Laz, Kurdish, and Pomad not as an ethnic origin but as a matter of ideas and understanding. Ilgaz argues that it is a civic duty to change this situation, which has harmful consequences and is inherited from the past and believes in the necessity of eliminating this separation within the Turkish nation.561 On an election trip, Ilgaz expressed her discomfort when she learned that some of her fellow MPs defined themselves according to the ethnic or sectarian identities of the people living in the places they visited, such as “if they are an Albanian, I am an Albanian, if they are Bosnian, I am a Bosnian, if they are an Alevi, I am an Alevi”. Ilgaz said that they had been struggling against this attitude for years and that they argued that the whole nation was Turkish, without such distinctions (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 132). For Ilgaz, the peace and tranquility of nations are only possible when the moral, social, and national feelings among people coincide with each other. The governance of the country and the welfare of the state complement each other. Disorder in society causes regression (Ilgaz, 1991b, p.17).
In Ilgaz’s opinion, the TBMM is Atatürk’s greatest work (Ilgaz, 1991b, p.9). As mentioned above, Ilgaz, who considers the Republic as a regime of virtue and democracy as the reinforcement of this virtuous regime, draws attention to the fact that totalitarian regimes prevailed in the last 5-6 years of Atatürk’s reign and says that during these years they emphasized the needs of democracy and democratic regime through official and unofficial statements. Ilgaz divides the administration of Atatürk’s period into five regimes: “between 1917-1920, democratic administration within the nation and under the form of House of Representatives (Temsilciler Meclisi); between 1920-1926, administration under the supervision of parties; between 1926-1930, a
561 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_042_2433, p. 4.
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period of assassinations and suppression of rebellions; 1930, the establishment of an opposition party at the request of Atatürk and the government; after 1931, the necessity of a regime without opposition again”. According to Ilgaz, Atatürk’s health and lifetime were not enough to complete his works and revolutions. If Atatürk had lived, perhaps he would have had the opportunity to realize them after World War II (Ilgaz, 1991b, p. 29).
Ilgaz is positive about the single-handed administration of Istanbul, which was implemented for a period and criticized from time to time. According to Ilgaz, who believes that Istanbul, which has not yet recovered from its troubled days, should have a different system from other cities, the assumption of three different duties by a single person should continue for at least a while. The fact that the governor, the mayor, and the CHP provincial chairman in Istanbul are under the responsibility of a single person is convenient for the administration of the city. Ilgaz, who defended the difficulty of administering the city with three different opinions, also discussed this issue with her colleagues in the Assembly and supported Adnan Adıvar, who opposed this practice and said that he would propose a law on this issue, to bring the issue to the Assembly (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 115).
On the subject of Religion and Politics, Ilgaz, in line with the approach of her time, emphasizes that religion should not be mixed with state affairs and politics. According to Ilgaz, politics, and religion or irreligion should never be mixed. Established on March 3, 1924, after the abolition of the caliphate and the unification of education, Religious Affairs should not be lenient in supervising its officials and should determine and control the content of the speeches made in mosques. Under the democratic regime and secular state sovereignty, Ilgaz sees it as a duty to teach Islam to those who do not know it and draws attention to the role of Religious Affairs in the fulfillment of this duty, emphasizing that they are against speeches that misinform citizens under the guise of religion. Ilgaz considers the preparation and sharing of sermons, the content of which is determined by the Religious Affairs, which do not contradict the revolutions and which convey the issues of the day to the citizens constructively and convincingly, as a historical responsibility of the Religious Affairs, and says that some idealistic teachers like herself also help the Religious Affairs (Ilgaz, Yeni İstanbul, 1959, p. 2; Ilgaz, Yeni Adam, 1975, vol. 891, p. 7; Ilgaz, 1981, p. 14 ).562
562 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_025_1379; KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_015_950.
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Ilgaz’s approach to coups seems to be shaped by her belief in Atatürk’s revolutions. This is because Ilgaz sees coups as a scalpel thrown at the periods in which the principles and reforms of Atatürk departed from. On May 27, 1960, the day of the coup d'état, Ilgaz, who was in Ankara to attend Charity Association Headquarters Congress, evaluates the seizure of power by Cemal Gürsel and his friends on the night of the event as a living witness of the coup, and states that this intervention, which she claims was welcomed with festive joy, was called “Freedom and Constitution Day”. Upon the Committee of National Unity’s decision to allow people involved in various social organizations to follow the trials on the island with invitations issued through their associations, Ilgaz went to Yassı Island in accordance with the rules set by the committee and followed the trials that continued until October 1961 (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 143). On the other hand, Ilgaz states that the administrators who took over the government after the 1960 revolution focused on social activities since they banned political activities, and that Atatürk’s principles began to be re-emphasized through conferences, trips, and seminars. According to Ilgaz, “a reform (devrim), a revolution (ihtilal) ... is easy, but a freedom that has not been digested in terms of education and habit wears out easily” (Ilgaz, 1981, p. 144).
Ilgaz sees the 1960 coup d'état as a success and an occasion for the revival of Atatürk’s goal of modern Turkey. In the columns of Yeni İstanbul Newspaper, Ilgaz defines May 27 as a revolution and describes it as the victory of the youth and the army. This victory is the victory of the patriots. Because with May 27, “the Republic was riveted, the Constitution was saved, and freedom was quaff”. Ilgaz believes that it is a patriotic obligation to help the Committee of National Unity, which wants to establish a new foundation and determine the principles, with a non-partisan, non-interested view and understanding. She also expresses that the Turkish nation has trusted and believed in its army throughout history, and shares her belief that the army is the most advanced educational and training institution with its strict discipline (Ilgaz, Yeni İstanbul, 1960, p. 2).563
Her views on the 1980 coup d'état also bear traces of her approach to the 1960 coup d'état. According to Ilgaz, who referred to the 1980 revolution in a speech she gave on behalf of Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye on the commemoration of Atatürk, Atatürk’s spiritual presence was disturbed by the internal
563 KEKBMV HIÖA 10002_039_2211.
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turmoil that took place before 1980, the supplications rising from every house reached God, these sincere cries found their place, and on the morning of September 12, 1980, Atatürk’s comrades-in-arms took over the government administration to protect and safeguard the Republic, and removed the discouraged and indecisive government from power. The new owners of the government embraced all the works of Atatürk and tried to save the country from all kinds of upsetting thoughts. Thus, the gaps opened in the Turkish revolutions will be strengthened again with the unity and solidarity of the nation.564
564 KEK HIÖA 10002_002_143, pp. 5-8.
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CONCLUSION
Ilgaz’s life as a child growing up in the late Ottoman Empire, as a high school girl during the War of Independence, and as an idealist teacher of Atatürk’s Turkey bears traces of all these historical processes. In this respect, Ilgaz’s life story, in the context of women’s history, contains the heritage inherited during the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic and the unique qualities of the young Turkish Republic. Moreover, it is possible to trace in Ilgaz’s life the individual and society idealized by the early Turkish Republic. As a student at the Girls’ Teachers’ School, Ilgaz overcame the deep sorrow she experienced with the occupation of Istanbul with the spirit of national liberation formed in the conditions of that period and shaped around Mustafa Kemal. The motive that fueled Ilgaz’s motivation to exist in all areas of life was the ideal of a new and strong Turkey, which she blended with her love, respect, faith, and endless devotion to the leader of the Great Victory, the Atatürk. In this respect, Ilgaz is one of the prototypes of the mission that Turkish women attached to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the early Republican period.
Undoubtedly, like many of her contemporaries, Ilgaz is the piece of the period she lived in and sheds light on that period. In her nearly a century of life, Ilgaz has realized many activities that add value to life. Ilgaz’s professional life, which began as a teacher and continued as a member of parliament, and the duties she held in various positions in many NGOs and the activities she carried out were blended with Atatürk’s ideals. In other words, the idea of the adoption of Atatürk’s principles and reforms by the whole society and thus the development of the Turkish nation is the main motive that determines the framework of Ilgaz’s activities. Her works, which encompassed almost every segment of society, including children and youth, young and old, men and women, urbanites and peasants, laborers and pensioners, prisoners, and the poor, are also a guide for future generations. As a Turkish woman with high social sensitivity, Ilgaz left behind valuable works that will make her immortal with her services that will mark a century in her private life, professional career, and social activities.
Ilgaz’s teaching was shaped within the framework of the mission that teachers attached by Atatürk, including the experience she brought from the past. She undertook the mission of educating not only the youth but also the whole society in line with the principles and reforms that built the Republic of Turkey. In this context, the same principles and ideals gave color to her activities within the Parliament as a member of parliament after her teaching career. In addition, Ilgaz’s political career and her
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philanthropic and journalistic activities began parallel to her teaching career and continued throughout her life. As a teacher, Ilgaz’s social and cultural activities within the Party and the Party’s cultural centers, the People’s Houses, provided her with a great deal of experience before her experience in Parliament. With her identity as a member of parliament, which she built on this experience and knowledge, Ilgaz stands in a different place than many of her contemporaries and colleagues. Ilgaz was one of the rare women parliamentarians of her period with her law proposals submitted to the Parliament, her work in the Parliamentary commissions, and her contributions to the Parliamentary sessions. Another striking feature of Ilgaz in this context is her critical identity. Ilgaz, who believed in the developmental effect of constructive and sincere criticism in the face of wrongdoings, regardless of one’s opinion or allegiance, also argued that partisanship should be avoided due to its destructive effect. Ilgaz seems to have continued her active political life until the 70s with the positions she held in the Party Assembly, the Party Women’s Branch, and the Party’s congresses. As far as we can access from her archive, Ilgaz last attended the CHP congress in 1968.
Ilgaz’s productivity as a journalist, writer, orator, and administrator is also noteworthy. As we mentioned in this thesis, Ilgaz’s writing and oratorical skills began in her school years and continued until the end of her life. Ilgaz, who passed away at the age of 98, was a sought-after speaker on women’s rights and women’s political life experiences even in the early 90s. Through her interviews and programs, Ilgaz never stopped sharing her knowledge and experience with new generations despite her advancing age. She also maintained her ties with various foundations and associations such as Martyrs’ Cemeteries Reconstruction Foundation of Türkiye. In this respect, Ilgaz is one of the rare personalities who dedicated her life to the society she lived in and worked with great zeal for the values she believed in. Her writings and works that make Ilgaz eternal reflect the dreams, goals, principles, and values of an idealistic Republican woman. Ilgaz’s books and writings in periodicals addressing all segments and issues of society, from politics to economy, social issues to cultural activities, are also important in terms of shedding light on the thoughts and opinions of the women of the early Republican generation.
Ilgaz’s sensitivity to social problems and her insight into social issues are also worth mentioning. The activities of associations and foundations that emerged as a result of the social changes that began in the late Ottoman period and the problems caused by the prolonged wars continued to increase in the early Republican period.
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After the War of Independence, the Republic inherited social institutions such as Red Crescent, Darülaceze, and Child Protection Agency. In the Republican period, also, new ones were added to these institutions, and the needs of a society that had just emerged from the war were tried to be met. Especially, during the years of One-party rule, we see that Ilgaz and her generation worked with great devotion in many of the social aid programs organized through the CHP and social associations run on the initiative of the CHP. The range of these associations and foundations in which Ilgaz was active was quite wide. Ilgaz was a founder, chairman or member of associations and foundations established to find solutions to the problems of almost all segments of society such as the poor, the elderly, pensioners, the disabled, children in need of protection, martyrs, and veterans, and she was also active in associations established to develop the national elements of the state such as the Turkish Navy and the Turkish Aeronautical Association. Ilgaz, who worked for ATURJET with the mission of promoting her country Turkey, to which she was devoted, to the world through tourism, stood by the Turkish Cypriots in their struggle until the end of her life.
On the other hand, Ilgaz, with the spirit of solidarity and charity she acquired from her family, also supported poor students and families both in her neighborhood and in the schools, she taught at. Ilgaz mediated in the establishment of a soup kitchen in her neighborhood through Red Crescent, and she also extended her helping hand to disaster victims after natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. At the same time, she tried to heal the wounds of society through the relevant institutions of the period. All these social activities, which we discuss in the second chapter of the thesis, and Ilgaz’s founding role in many associations and foundations are part of her idealized Turkish woman identity. In this context, Charity Association is an important initiative in terms of reflecting the philanthropic mission of Turkish women in the Republican era. The activities of Association of Aid to Darülaceze, the Women’s Branch of Turkish Aeroplane League (Turkish Aeronautical Association), and Association for Supporting the Poor are also noteworthy in terms of reflecting the dimensions of the philanthropic mission of early Republican women.
Finally, if we evaluate Ilgaz’s views on women’s struggle for their rights and their participation in political and social life, Ilgaz argues that women gained all their rights with the Republic. Although Ilgaz finds the demands for political rights led by Nezihe Muhittin to be justified, she believes that this should be realized gradually. According to Ilgaz, Turkish women, who obtained their legal rights with the Civil Code
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of 1926, gained the right to participate in municipal elections in 1930 and the right to elect and be elected as members of parliament on December 5, 1934. Through this gradual process, Turkish society embraced women’s presence in political life following the equality of men and women. Ilgaz, who also attended the Women’s Congress held in Turkey in 1935, believes that Atatürk gave Turkish women all the rights they demanded in the context of women’s rights. Therefore, Ilgaz’s approach to women’s rights does not include a different demand from the prototype of the Turkish woman idealized by the founding elite of the Republic, especially Atatürk. The Turkish woman is primarily a housewife. She must fulfill her social obligations without neglecting her family responsibilities. Turkish women will accomplish all the responsibilities they undertake with a planned life. Ilgaz also believes in the need for men and women to act together in solving social problems and does not find it right for women to devote their motherly and feminine power only to their problems when society has many problems such as livelihood problems and rebellious youth. According to her, women’s problems are part of the problems of society and can only be solved by men and women working hand in hand within this whole.
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APPENDIX A565
Figure 1. Family Photo of Hasene Ilgaz
,
Figure 2. A Photograph of Ilgaz
Figure 3. A Photograph of Ilgaz in her youth
565 The photographs were taken from Hasene Ilgaz Private Archive in the Women’s Library and Information Centre Foundation (in short the Women’s Library)
136
APPENDIX B566
Figure 4. Ilgaz and her students
Figure 5. Ilgaz and her fellow Teachers
Figure 6. Commendation awarded to Ilgaz for her success as a Teacher
566 The photographs and the document were taken from Hasene Ilgaz Private Archive in the Women’s Library
137
APPENDIX C567
Figure 7. Letter stating that Ilgaz is the Second Elector from Samatya
Figure 8. Letter requesting biographical information from Ilgaz to be published in the Biographical Encyclopedia of the World
567 The photographs were taken from Hasene Ilgaz Private Archive in the Women’s Library
138
APPENDIX D
Figure 9. Ilgaz’s CV submitted to TBMM for the 7th term568
Figure 10. Ilgaz’s CV submitted to TBMM for the 8th term569
568 Retrieved from https://www5.tbmm.gov.tr/eyayin/GAZETELER/WEB/MAZBATALAR/TBMM/d08/HT_1230_1_7.pdf
569 Retrieved from https://www5.tbmm.gov.tr/eyayin/GAZETELER/WEB/MAZBATALAR/TBMM/d08/HT_1230_1_8.pdf
139
APPENDIX E
Figure 11. Ilgaz’s visit to Kıbrıs (Cpriot) Newspaper, Hasene Ilgaz Street
Figure 12. Ankara visit of Cypriot Teachers accompanied by Ilgaz and Oruz (Ulus, July 28, 19
Figure 13. A photograph taken in front of the Çubuk Dam during the Turkish Cypriot visit to Ankara570
570 The photograph was taken from Hasene Ilgaz Private Archive in the Women’s Library
140
APPENDIX F
Figure 14. One of the Assembly sessions in which Ilgaz spoke (Ulus, November 29, 1947)
Figure 16. Speech by Ilgaz at Aviation Martyrs’ Day event (Cumhuriyet, May 16, 1940)
Figure 15. Beyazıt rally held after the assassination attempt on Atatürk in 1935, where Ilgaz gave a speech (Akşam, October 24, 1935)
Figure 17. During a village trip, Ilgaz’s speech on the Republic Day571
571 The photograph was taken from Hasene Ilgaz Private Archive in the Women’s Library
141
APPENDIX G
Figure 18. An article about Istanbul Nursing Home (AKİS, October 23, 1965)
Figure 20. Inauguration of Istanbul branch of Charity Association, in which Ilgaz was also a member (TAN, April 29, 1941)
572 The photograph was taken from Hasene Ilgaz Private Archive in the Women’s Library
Figure 19. Inauguration of Girls’ Dormitory, which became operational with the initiatives of Ilgaz572
Figure 21. The event was organized to help the Turkish Aeronautical Association, in which Ilgaz took part in the organizing committee (Cumhuriyet, June 14, 1935)
142
APPENDIX H573
Figure 22. Photograph of Ilgaz with the students and teachers of the school she opened in Beşevler, Ankara
Figure 23. Photograph of Ilgaz with the children that Samatya Child Protection Agency provided clothing in the period 1933-1934.
573 The photographs were taken from Hasene Ilgaz Private Archive in the Women’s Library