Ayşe Afet İnan was a Turkish

Turkish people

Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

 historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 and sociologist. She was one of the adopted daughters of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....

.

Afet İnan was born to Ismail Hakki Bey (İsmail Hakkı Uzmay) and Şehzane Hanım from Doyran (present day Dojran

Dojran

Dojran was a city located on the western shore of Dojran Lake in the south-eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia. Today, it is collective name for two villages that exist on the territory of the ruined city: Nov Dojran and Star Dojran, which contains both old ruins and recent construction,...

), in 1908 in the district of Kesendire (Polyoroz, present day Kassandra) in Salonica Vilayet.

She and her family emigrated to Adapazarı

Adapazari

Adapazarı is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of Sakarya Province. The province itself was originally named Adapazarı as well. Adapazarı is a part of the densely populated region of the country, known as the Marmara Region. As of 2010, the city has a population of 560,876 ...

 because of the Balkan Wars

Balkan Wars

The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...

. She started primary school in Adapazarı on March 4, 1913.　And then they moved to Ankara

Ankara

Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....

, Mihalıççık

Mihaliççik

Mihalıççık, also Mihalıçcık, is a town and district of Eskişehir Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. According to 2010 census, population of the district is 10,482 of which 3,133 live in the town of Mihalıççık. The district covers an area of , and the average elevation is .-External...

, Karaoğlan

Karaoglan

Karaoğlan is a Turkish historical comic book that was created in 1963 and drawn by Suat Yalaz.It was first published on January 3, 1962 daily in Akşam newspaper...

, Biga

Biga

Biga may refer to:* Biga , a type of pre-fermentation used in Italian baking* Biga and Busca, two Catalan political factions during the 15th century* Biga, Çanakkale, a town and district of Çanakkale Province in Turkey...

. Her mother Şehzane died of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 on May 15, 1915. Since her father married a young girl, Ayşe Afet decided to become a teacher to earn by herself. When they lived in Biga, her younger sister Nezihe was born her father Ismail Hakki and his second wife. In 1920, she finished the six-years primary education. In 1921, they settled to Alanya. In 1922, she got a teaching qualification in Elmalı

Elmali

Elmalı is a town and district in Antalya Province, the Mediterranean region of Turkey. It lies about inland, near the town of Korkuteli and west of the city of Antalya...

 and was assigned as headteacher to Elmalı Girls' School. She graduated from the Bursa

Bursa, Turkey

Bursa is a city in northwestern Turkey and the seat of Bursa Province. The metropolitan area in the entire Bursa province had a population of 2.6 million as of 2010, making the city fourth most populous in Turkey. The city is equally one of the most industrialized metropolitan centers in the...

 Teachers College for Girls in 1925, and started to work as a primary school teacher in Izmir

Izmir

Izmir is a large metropolis in the western extremity of Anatolia. The metropolitan area in the entire Izmir Province had a population of 3.35 million as of 2010, making the city third most populous in Turkey...

. She met Mustafa Kemal Atatürk the same year in October during his visit to Izmir.
Afet was sent in 1925 by Atatürk to Lausanne

Lausanne

Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...

, Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, to learn French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

. After returning to Turkey in 1927, she attended the French "Notre Dame de Sion High School for Girls" in İstanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

. Finishing the school, she was appointed as a secondary school teacher for history. In 1935, Afet İnan went to Switzerland again and studied as a student of Eugène Pittard (fr.) at the University of Geneva

University of Geneva

The University of Geneva is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland.It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin, as a theological seminary and law school. It remained focused on theology until the 17th century, when it became a center for Enlightenment scholarship. In 1873, it...

 between 1936 and 1938. After graduating, she obtained a PhD

PHD

PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...

 degree in sociology in 1939. In 1950, she became a professor at the University of Ankara.

She was the co-founder and a leading member of the Turkish Historical Society

Turkish Historical Society

The Turkish Historical Society also known as Turkish Historical Association or Turkish History Foundation is a research society studying the history of Turkey and the Turkish people, founded in 1931 by the initiative of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, with headquarters in Ankara, Turkey.-Presidents:The...

.

İnan died on June 8, 1985 in Ankara

Ankara

Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....

, leaving behind her husband Dr. Rıfat İnan, her daughter Arı and her son Demir.

The "Afet İnan Historical Studies Award" is given biennially by the Turkish History Foundation in cooperation with İnan's family.

Selected bibliography

• Medeni bilgiler ve M. Kemal Atatürk'ün el yazıları, Ankara, Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1969
• Atatürk'ten yazdıklarım, Ankara, 1969
• Recherches Sur les Caractéres Anthropologiques des Population de la Turquie, Genève, 1939
• Türk Amirali Piri Reis'in Hayatı ve Eserleri
• L'émancipation de la Femme Turque
• Biography