Friday, December 3, 2010

Hayrünnisa Gül, First Lady of Turkey


Hayrünnisa Gül

Hayrünnisa Gül (pronounced [ˌhajɾyˈnisa ˈɟyl]; née Özyurt, born August 18, 1965 in İstanbul)[1] is the current First Lady of Turkey[2]. She married with Abdullah Gül, the current President of Turkey, on August 20, 1980.[3] They have two sons (Ahmed Münir, Mehmed Emre) and one daughter (Kübra).[4]
Madame Gül has attracted controversy as she wears a head scarf, which is seen by some members of the secular establishment as a symbol of political Islam. Albeit, she is not the first head scarf wearing First Lady in the Turkish State's modern history. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's wife, Latife Uşşaki, had also worn a head scarf for some time during her husband's presidency. The wearing of a headscarf earlier led to Gül being refused enrolment into a bachelor's degree course at Ankara University.[4]

First lady of Turkey

As First Lady of Turkey Madame Gül has initiated many social projects aimed at addressing issues such as education, health and women's rights[5].
On the 7th of October 2010, Mademe Gül became the first First Lady to address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on issues faced by children and women http://www.coe.int/t/dc/files/pa_session/october_2010/20101007_news_gul_en.asp.

References


^ http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=71777
^ http://www.tccb.gov.tr/pages/lady/
^ "Bir evlilik yıldönümü". Milliyet. Retrieved 2010-18-03.
^ a b "Hayrünnisa Gül: The next first lady". Today's Zaman. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
^ http://www.tccb.gov.tr/pages/

(from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayr%C3%BCnnisa_G%C3%BCl )