- Latife Uşşaki
Latife or, with the
honorific s, Latife Hanım or Latife Hanımefendi, or, after the 1934 Reform on Family Names inTurkey , Latife Uşşaki [ cite web | url = http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article1152032.ece Article:| title = Turkey in the 21st century: The Legacy Of Mrs Ataturk | accessdate = 2007-09-29 | date =1 July 2006 | work = Pelin Turgut| publisher =The Independent | language = English] (İzmir , 1898 - İstanbul, 1975) wasMustafa Kemal Pasha 's (laterAtatürk ) wife between 1923 and 1925.She was born in 1898 in
İzmir to one of the most prominent trading families of the city with roots in the city ofUşak , whence their unofficial family name of "Uşşakizade". She did her high school studies in İzmir and in 1919 she attended law schools inParis andLondon . When she came back toTurkey , theTurkish War of Independence was nearing its end without being over yet.On
September 11 ,1922 , upon hearing that Mustafa Kemal Pasha was in İzmir after its re-capture by theTurkish army , she went to his headquarters and offered him the opportunity to stay in her family mansion in Göztepe for security reasons. Atatürk was pleased to accept and their relationship started.They got married on
January 29 ,1923 , when Mustafa Kemal Pasha had returned toİzmir just after his motherZübeyde Hanım 's death. For two and a half years, she symbolized the new face of Turkish women as afirst lady who was very present in public life which, in Turkey, was a novelty by the standards of her day. She was a very important theme in the reform steps which started to be taken in Turkey as of the 1920s foremancipation of women . Having originally covered her head in accordance with Islamic tradition, she threw off thehijab and urged Turkish women to do the same.However, their relationship was cut short after the summer of 1925. They divorced on
August 5 ,1925 . Lâtife Hanım lived the rest of her days inİzmir andİstanbul , in virtual seclusion, avoiding contacts outside her private circle until her death in 1975. She never remarried, and remained silent about their relationship throughout her life.Her family recently rejected proposals to publicize her diary which includes Lâtife's and Atatürk's letters to each other [ cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4235691.stm Article:| title = Ataturk diaries to remain secret | accessdate = 2007-09-29 | date =
4 February 2005 | work = | publisher =BBC | language = English] . A comprehensive but also controversial biography of Latife Hanım by the veteranCumhuriyet journalistİpek Çalışlar was published in 2006 cite web | url = http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=52361 Article:| title = Atatürk, his wife and her biographer | accessdate = 2007-09-29 | date =25 August 2006 | work = Emrah Güler| publisher =Turkish Daily News | language = English] .References
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