Bahriye Üçok

Bahriye Üçok (1919 - October 6, 1990) was a female Turkish academic of theology, left-wing politician, writer, columnist and women's rights activist, who was assassinated by Islamic militants.

Born in Trabzon, Bahriye Üçok finished her primary education in Ordu and then graduated from Kandilli High School for Girls in Istanbul. She was educated in Medieval Islamic and Turkish History at the Faculty of Philology, History and Geography of Ankara University. At the same time, she attended the State Conservatory and completed the Opera section.

After eleven years, she worked as a high school teacher in Samsun and Ankara, she entered 1953 Ankara University as an assistant in the Faculty of Theology,. She obtained her PhD in 1957, and became 1965 an associate professor with her thesis on "Female rulers in Islamic countries" and finally professor, being the ever first female university teacher in this faculty. Being fluent in Arabic and Persian, she interpreted the Qur'an faithfully in a modern, realistic and tolerant way. She quit her post following increasing threats and her feeling of unsafe after 1960.

In 1971, she was elected contingency senator, and so her political career started. Bahriye Üçok joined 1977 the center-left Republican People's Party (CHP). After the military coup in 1980, she co-founded the "Populist Party" (Halkçı Parti) and was elected 1983 deputy of Ordu into the parliament. In 1986, she switched over to Social Democratic People's Party (SHP).

She also wrote her opinions in her column in the newspaper "Cumhuriyet". After a TV forum, at which she declared that covered dressing in Islam (Hijab) is not obligatory, Bahriye Üçok received increasingly threads from the militant organization "Islamic Movement" (İslami Hareket). Not a long time later, on October 6, 1990, she was killed by a parcel bomb looking like a book package as she was trying to open it up in front of her house door. The assassination remained unsolved.

Bibliography

* "İslâm'dan Dönenler ve İlk Yalancı Peygamber" (Converts from Islam and the First Fake Prophet) (1967) Ankara
* "İslâm Devletinde Kadın Hükümdarlar" (Female Rulers in Islamic Countries)
* "İslam Tarihi" (History of Islam)
* "Islam Tarihinde Emeviler - Abbasiler" (Umayyads - Abbasids in the History of Islam)
* "Atatürk'ün İzinde Bir Arpa Boyu" (A Tiny Step in the Footsteps of Atatürk) 270p, (1985), Cem Publishing, Istanbul ISBN 978-975-406-467-4 [ [http://www.yenisayfa.com/pgs/prda/prd_detail.asp?fr_prdSID=CYaYY Atatürk'ün İzinde Bir Arpa Boyu] , Yeni Sayfa tr icon]
* Aly Mazahéri, "Ortaçağda Müslümanların Günlük Yaşayışları" (translation) (Daily Life of Muslims in the Middle Age)

ee also

* List of assassinated people from Turkey

References

External links

* [http://www.kimkimdir.gen.tr/kimkimdir.php?id=2706 Who is who] tr icon
* [http://www.add.org.tr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108&Itemid=77 Prof. Dr. Bahriye ÜÇOK] , Atatürkçü Düşünce Derneği tr icon