They are making a difference, daring, and changing. Meet our pioneering women who transcend boundaries, focus on solutions rather than problems, and prioritize social benefit above all else.
Tülin Akın
Tülin Akın, through the website TABİT Agricultural Marketing Platform, which she founded in 2004 while still a student, aimed to provide farmers with up-to-date information, technical application knowledge, various skills, and professional development opportunities. She created an opportunity for farmers to access alternative markets without using traditional intermediary structures. The portal, which farmers access via text message or the internet, today serves more than three million farmers both domestically and abroad. Tülin Akın also collaborated with Vodafone to launch the Vodafone Smart Village to encourage technology use among farmers in rural life, and she continues her projects in this field.
Selin Gören
What is climate justice, where did you start, and where are you today? The place I felt happiest since my childhood was nature. I grew up listening to Açık Radyo (Open Radio). Therefore, the injustices we as a human species inflict on nature, our claim to rights over nature, and our selfishness were issues I have been concerned about since my childhood. In high school, I was introduced to permaculture and restorative agriculture. I learned about the climate crisis and ecological destruction and began to research this topic. I started by organizing climate strikes, explaining my concerns and solutions at conferences, and trying to reach more people every day. One of the issues I emphasize most in my work is climate justice. Because the climate crisis affects everyone, but it affects vulnerable communities more and faster. However, they are the ones who have contributed the least to the climate crisis. So, there is a terrible injustice here. As with any crisis, men and women, the rich and the poor, urban and rural are not in the same risk group in the face of this crisis. That is why we say, “Climate justice is also a social justice issue.”
You are actively involved in the Fridays For Future and Yuvam Dünya movements. What have you been doing recently, and what are your goals? In May 2019, I met the climate movement in Turkey at the climate meeting organized by the Green Thought Association, and I began to organize the movement among high schools in Turkey. Together, we organized five global climate strikes, most notably our Kadıköy strike on September 20, 2019. In the summer of the same year, I attended the global climate activists’ summit in Lausanne with Atlas Sarrafoğlu, who initiated the movement in Turkey. There, we worked with Greta Thunberg and thousands of other young activists, developed solutions for the climate, and discussed the future of the movement. Another important part of my activism journey is Yuvam Dünya (My Home Earth). In our work with Yuvam Dünya, our main focuses are the green transformation of the private sector, the inclusion of the climate crisis in the curriculum, and communicating this crisis to people correctly. Our climate crisis curriculum project has succeeded and is already being implemented at Bahçeşehir College. The solution to the climate crisis is green energy, and the authorities who will make green energy a part of life are companies, politicians, and investors. We thought about “How can we tell people” about the climate disasters that are accelerating every day all over the world while also giving hope for the future, and I think we succeeded quite well.
You are studying at Yale University and also working at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. Can you talk about this initiative? I am studying Environmental Science and Energy at Yale University. Climate activism is not just a youthful enthusiasm for me; it is also the work I want to in the future. Because there are no jobs on a dead planet. There are initiatives I work with at Yale. With our club called EECO, we give environmental science lessons to elementary school students in New Haven, the city where Yale is located. With our movement called EJC (Endowment Justice Coalition), we are campaigning for Yale to divest from fossil fuels. I also work at the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. We measure the climate crisis awareness in different states in America and conduct research on how we should change our message to mobilize different groups.
In a world order where consumption is at the forefront, where should we start, and what steps should we take? We are in a growth-oriented economic system. We must make this system circular, as in Kate Raworth’s doughnut theory. This is, of course, a difficult and big goal. The way to achieve this is through small steps. As consumers, there are many actions we can take, such as not buying unless we need to, swapping our old clothes, and shopping from local brands that value nature and people.
Arzu Karataş
Arzu Karataş made a decision during her treatment process after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She wanted to provide financial and moral support to women to make them feel they are not alone in this difficult treatment. The Pink Traces Women’s Cancers Association (Pembe İzler Kadın Kanserleri Derneği), which Karataş founded with her close friends, conducts awareness studies on all cancers affecting women, especially breast cancer, and undertakes the treatment of patients with limited financial means. They also boost morale by donating wigs to women who lose their hair during treatment.
Ayşe Tükrükçü
About clinging to life with the creator and godmother of the Hayata Sarıl Lokantası (Cling to Life Restaurant), which provides food to the homeless in Beyoğlu every evening.
You were exposed to domestic physical and sexual violence in your childhood; as an adult, you were a sex worker for a period and lived on the streets. How did you cling to life when all this was so difficult? I am one of those who tries both to create from nothing and to exist from nothing. I told society, “I am here!”
What was your dream when you founded the Hayata Sarıl Association and Restaurant? I acted by thinking about what I needed when I was living on the street. I always say job, food, life. In the beginning, we provided job opportunities for six of our homeless friends here. We had them receive kitchen and hygiene training. We are still continuing this. It is very important to me that those living on the streets are treated as human beings and have a say in society. That’s why, as an association, we strive for them to work with insurance and to be reintegrated into life.
What would you like to say about those who are ignored and marginalized by society, especially the homeless? It is not our fault to be homeless. If my team gives a chance to someone like me who has lived on the street, think about what you can do.
Ayşe Arman
The motto of Ayşe Arman, who works with women’s organizations, cancer associations, and foundations that underline gender equality, and who has generated more than 2 million TL for 48 non-governmental organizations with her Goodness Necklaces (İyilik Kolyeleri) project, is: “Giving is better than receiving!”
What do you think makes a woman a “pioneer”? Being a visionary. Chasing new ideas. Working for social benefit. Striving for gender equality. Speaking out against all kinds of injustice and lawlessness. Believing that a woman is not a wolf to another woman, but her sister. Looking out for her sisters. Worrying about “we,” not “me.”
How did you overcome the difficulties and obstacles you faced in life? By believing in myself! Giving up is not in my book. Am I stubborn or what? I don’t give up. I do what I set my mind to. The harder, the better! Good things are not easily achieved anyway. Obstacles are a fact of life. But they exist to be overcome. Of course, we will fall into small pits. But then we will get out and continue on our way.
What is your recommendation to those who want to benefit their environment but don’t know where to start? Let them choose a field for themselves; there are wonderful non-governmental organizations. Let them start working in one of them. Giving is better than receiving. The happiness of providing social benefit is not found in anything else. Because you feel useful. There is nothing beyond that!
You continue your work in a medium that is an alternative to the mainstream media. You also have a bolder tone now. If you were to compare the two media, what would you say? Mainstream media is my old life. It was beautiful, it’s over. I don’t look back. The past is past. Yes, it made me who I am, it taught me many things. But it’s not here now. It’s gone (laughs). I am living my new life now. I am as free as a bird. I am not accountable to anyone. I do and write whatever my heart desires. But of course, I made wonderful friendships in those 30 years, I worked with brilliant minds, we produced beautiful work. I only miss that collective energy. I am sadly watching the destruction of press freedom and the profession called journalism in our country.
How did you manage to become a more beneficial person to yourself and your environment? Thank you very much. If that is really the case, I am very happy! I love working shoulder to shoulder with non-governmental organizations, supporting them as much as I can with the power I get from journalism, and creating resources. I am in contact with women’s organizations. With cancer associations as well. And with foundations that underline gender equality. But there is still so much to do. This is the reason I got into Goodness Necklaces. The necklace is the excuse, the social benefit is fantastic!
The Goodness Necklaces started with a small dream. Now it is a huge movement of kindness. What has happened during this time? At first, I was making those necklaces for myself. Three or four years ago, an institution wanted to buy necklaces from me to give as gifts to its female employees on Women’s Day. I was very surprised. “I don’t sell necklaces!” I said. They insisted. “Then let’s do this,” I said: “You pay for the education expenses of Mari Kasparyan’s autistic son, Arda, and the necklaces are yours!” It was quite a bit of money. They paid. I then shared photos of the women of that institution wearing the goodness necklaces on their necks on Instagram. Having a high number of followers is a social media power. This power also affects institutions. The rest followed. I worked with nearly 80 institutions, and I generated more than 2 million liras for 48 non-governmental organizations. I participated in all sorts of events with the necklaces. I made sales in every place you can imagine. We have a Goodness Workshop (İyilik Atölyesi) among the olive trees in Bodrum. Every week, we string necklaces with hundreds of women for the benefit of different non-governmental organizations. We also do a dance workshop with my daughter. It’s wonderful. We are useful!
Başak Taşpınar Değim
“Everyone can have good ideas. The hard part is taking the first step.” Değim’s successful entrepreneurial story was actually born from her needs. After graduating from Boğaziçi University’s Civil Engineering Department, Değim returned to Turkey permanently with her husband after completing her master’s degree in America and working in managerial positions at important firms. Upon experiencing difficulty in finding quality service during the moving process, she founded armut.com in 2011 with the slogan “Hizmet piş ağzıma düş” (roughly, “Service, fall right into my mouth”). Armut, initially established with a personal capital of 50,000 TL, is among Turkey’s fastest-growing internet startups today, with more than 600,000 service providers in over 4,000 categories such as renovation, transportation, cleaning, and repairs.
Canan Dağdeviren
The physicist and inventor, who directs the Conformable Decoders research group in the field of Media Arts and Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), one of America’s leading universities, makes us proud with her achievements. Dağdeviren, the first Turkish scientist to be elected as a Young Academy member at Harvard University and featured in lists by prestigious publications like Forbes and MIT Technology Review, developed a battery-free, wearable heart chip and a device that facilitates the diagnosis of skin cancer, inspired by the illnesses her family members went through.
Buket Uzuner
Author Buket Uzuner, who writes works to create awareness about climate change and who has worked on the headman’s committee (muhtar heyeti) for women’s participation in management, says, “Step out of your sheath, your cocoon, your comfort or protection zone, and extend a hand to others.”
What do you think makes a woman a pioneer? In my opinion, pioneers have common characteristics that make them resemble each other more than their own siblings. Pioneers are visionary, curious, innovative, sincere and brave enough to stand by what they do or believe in, and strong-willed. I know you asked me about a pioneer woman, not a pioneer person. But I specifically chose the word person because I wanted to underline that ‘person’ still, even today, does not include women—or even youth and children. For this very reason, pioneer women, in addition to the characteristics and virtues I listed above, must be much braver, much more determined, and much more resilient to loneliness and other prices to be paid than men.
Climate change is increasing its impact on our lives every day. What tasks do you think fall on individuals to say stop to this issue? First of all, we must start by accepting that we humans are not the masters of nature, but just a part of nature. Then we must accept that water, soil, air, and all non-human living beings on this planet also have rights, and we must relearn to consume only as much as we need and to live simply. It is essential that we explain these things to our environment, starting with our family and friends, and make an effort. We should hold signature campaigns for democratic pressure on governments to invest in transitioning to renewable energy and for ecology lessons to be added to kindergartens, and we should not underestimate these. There are young people working in the “Youth For Climate Turkey” (İklim için Gençler-Türkiye) group, which is the reflection of the “Justice for Climate” school boycott movement initiated by the young pioneer woman from Sweden, Greta Thunberg. I support them!
What is your recommendation to those who want to benefit their environment but don’t know where to start? If a person truly wants to feel alive and be beneficial to others, they must get out of the “life in a jar” and join real life. Even those who work very intensively have a few minutes to spare for others. Step out of your sheath, your cocoon, your comfort or protection zone, make friends from different classes outside your social circle, get to know other cultures. See that other people are human just like you and allow them to help you, and you to help them. Join book reading groups, even if they are online, go to exhibitions, meet new people, collect books for book donations to schools. Make children happy. Consume less, live more simply. When you start to respect yourself, the world will become more beautiful.
Cansu Yıldıran
The artist, born in 1996, creates works that make a difference regarding discrimination based on belonging, class, culture, gender, or sexual identity, drawing from her personal experiences. Yıldıran, whose work has been featured in many publications and exhibitions, including the British Journal of Photography, The Guardian, and Dazed, also takes photographs for The New York Times. In an interview, Yıldıran describes her creation process, saying, “I care about talking about stories that perhaps no one would look back at and addressing the general by starting from the local.”
“I care about talking about stories that perhaps no one would look back at and addressing the general by starting from the local.” – CANSU YILDIRAN
Defne Koryürek
We are listening to food activist Defne Koryürek, the founder of Fikir Sahibi Damaklar (Palates with Opinions), a slow food community.
You are a woman who pioneers food activism. In your opinion, what is the biggest danger awaiting us in the fields of agriculture and food in the near future? Famine awaits us. We have turned Anatolia, which we boastfully describe as the first place agriculture came to life, into a geography without its villager. We have destroyed the farmer who has lived in the countryside for generations and been ableto make a living with what they produce—the villager who protects their seed, produces their product with traditional methods, and has internalized the rules of the waste-free and additive-free cycle—with the policies of the last 50-60 years. Then we persistently ruined the climate, we destroyed the balance of the planet. We are arrogant. We think that the car we use, the coal we burn, the natural gas that heats our home does not add a burden; we think others are always the cause of the destruction. If we add to this the foreseeable but preferably ignored risks in international relations during commercial presence and absence, I think the picture is complete. It is very difficult to say that we do not deserve this famine and the wars, migrations, and destruction that will come with it.
Industrial agriculture and animal husbandry are causing serious harm to the ecosystem. Do you think states and large corporations are making enough effort to change this situation? It is also possible to refer to the Anthropocene, the geological age we are currently in, where human activity has a dominant influence on the climate and environment, as the age of engineers and companies. We are in a time where not only the giant steel structures we admire, but also dozens of buy-and-consume products, from food to agriculture, are the result of engineering. Knowing the person who produces your bread, who harvests your wheat, is a luxury. We no longer know the producer of anything we choose and work hard to own. The measure of our spending has also been lost in an absurdity called brand, i.e., company, loyalty. Concepts like “enough” or “sufficient” do not exist, so “little” or “much” are also vague concepts. It has become a crime for a worker whose hourly wage is 6 liras to demand a raise in front of the company owner’s house surrounded by security walls. If an effort is to be made under these conditions, that effort falls to us.
Which organizations that fight for equal and just living rights in society do you support? The Deep Poverty Network (Derin Yoksulluk Ağı) and Support to Life (Hayata Destek) are the organizations that stand closest to today’s urgent issues and are hands-on in the field. Only solidarity will keep us alive, today and tomorrow, in plenty and in want.
Which women do you admire? Hacer Foggo, who founded the Deep Poverty Network, and Konca Kuriş, the Muslim feminist who was murdered by Hezbollah in 1999.
Döne Otyam
Döne Otyam, born into art as the daughter of painter, journalist, and writer Fikret Otyam and growing up with the dream of becoming an art gallerist, is one of the conceptual pioneers of the Mardin Art Biennial, a curator, and an art consultant. The Mardin Biennial has been progressing for five years with the mission of invigorating the Mardin geography through art with artists, academicians, students, and different cultural communities, creating new sharing environments, and bringing different dimensions to the definition of the conventional idea of a center in art. Otyam continues her work with the Abitus Art Projects platform, of which she is a co-founder.
Pioneering Women
Evgar, who is a theater, television, and cinema actress, is also a women’s rights and gender equality advocate. Demet Evgar, a strong voice aiming to make women visible by making the media, television, and film sectors sensitive to gender equality, works and carries out campaigns not only advocating for women’s empowerment and equality but also by standing with every living being—human, nature, animal—in their search for justice. Demet Evgar has reached wide audiences by bringing to life the resilience and empowerment stories of different female characters, which are still remembered, especially in her TV series and films. Evgar, who defines her job and herself as a storyteller, chooses the characters she plays very carefully in order to change the story assigned to women in society. She makes sure that the character she portrays supports the empowerment of women and does not recreate harmful norms and gender stereotypes. Her films and series are broadcast in Turkey as well as in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East, and her messages of gender equality reach even wider audiences. Evgar, who supported the #KayıtsızKalmayın (Don’t Be Indifferent) 16 Days of Activism – End Violence Against Women and Fireflies campaigns carried out by UN Women, is also the recipient of the Bilge Olgaç Achievement Award, given annually by the Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival (Uçan Süpürge) to underline women’s labor in our cinema.
Dilek Livaneli
She was appointed to Samsun’s Kumköy Primary School in 2008 and continued her duty as the only teacher for four classes combined in the same school. Livaneli, who developed projects for the students at the school where she taught and guided the development of village women, crowned her happiness of doing the job she loves by receiving the European Parliament’s International Leading Woman Award. Livaneli, who is currently continuing her career in London, writes about her career journey in her book Bir Dilek Yetmez (One Wish is Not Enough) and says that she aims for the movement she started with the same name to be an inspiration to people.
Dilek Demir
When Dilek Demir took office as the headwoman (muhtar) of the Muradiye Neighborhood in Diyarbakır’s Bağlar district, she hung a wish-complaint box on the wall of the headwoman’s office. Demir, who was taken out of school at the age of 14 and forced into marriage and does not want others to share the same fate, has saved 40 girls from forced marriage during her two-term duty with the tip-off letters that came to that box she hung for those who hesitate to talk about their experiences. Demir, who is also known for rushing to the aid of drug addicts, abused children, and those in need in her neighborhood, emphasizes at every opportunity that she has done everything she can and will continue to do so.
Ebrar Karakurt
The 21-year-old national volleyball player, who started her volleyball life at Vakıfbank Sports Club in 2012 and made us proud with her outstanding performance, especially at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after successful years, is an inspiration not only with her career but also with her colorful personality and ideals. Ebrar Karakurt, who transferred to the Italian team Igor Gorgonzola Novara in 2021 and is currently continuing her career there, established a volleyball academy last year with the support of Nike and the SocialBen Foundation. The Ebrar Karakurt Volleyball Academy provides volleyball training to girls in disadvantaged regions, enabling them to discover their talents. Karakurt says, “Touching the life of even one girl is incredibly meaningful to me.”
Ece Çiftçi
Çiftçi, who was introduced to social responsibility at a conference she attended at the age of 14, crowned her initiatives with the SocialBen Academy in 2015. The SocialBen Foundation is a non-governmental organization that conducts national and international field and educational studies that will contribute to the personal development of children aged 7-13 living in disadvantaged regions. The organization, which has eight basic workshops such as painting, music, dance, games, and creative writing, contributes to over 45,000 SocialBen children in 73 provinces in Turkey and 11 countries around the world.
Eylem Başar Söğüt
Fashion entrepreneur Eylem founded Casting Killer, Turkey’s first street cast platform, which gives a voice to names that cannot find a place in the sector and features local, disabled, and plus-size models. Casting Killer, which is a rebellion against the usual beauty standards, brings new faces from both Turkey and the Middle East together with the global fashion industry. Eylem, who aims to make a difference both in Turkey and in the world with the agency, which currently has around 200 models, says, “There are no limitations such as height, language, religion, race, measurements, size, or gender for my models. It is enough for them to be authentic and themselves.”
Gülsüm Kav
Expert physician Gülsüm Kav continues to serve as the general representative of the We Will Stop Femicide Platform (Kadın Cinayetlerini Durduracağız Platformu), of which she is a co-founder. Kav, who struggles to draw attention to gender-based violence, gender inequality, and increasing femicides, also authored a book titled Yaşasın Kadınlar (Long Live Women). The British media giant BBC included her in its 2020 list of 100 inspiring and influential women.
Gamze Cizreli
Cizreli, one of Turkey’s successful women entrepreneurs and a member of KAGİDER (Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey), created Ankara’s first cafe, Cafemiz, in 1993, followed by the Kuki and Quick China brands. In 2007, she founded the BigChefs restaurant chain in Ankara with no equity. The chain, which today has over 60 branches both domestically and abroad, has implemented the “From the Women of the Land to the Table” (Toprağın Kadınlarından Sofraya) project, where its products are sourced from low-income women farmers living in rural areas. The project, which started with 14 women and has reached 100 women today, plans to source 50 percent of its supplies from women farmers by 2030.
Gözde Mutluer
Actress and artist Gözde Mutluer, together with artist Selver Yıldırım, founded Disyon, an independent online gallery and sales platform that aims to make the original artworks of new-generation artists visible. The platform, which prints high-quality, certified editions, posters, and card series with its unique selections, aims to support independent art and artists.
Hacer Foggo
“It is important to me that a company’s general manager is matched with a family that makes a living by collecting paper, and that they ask about the condition of the baby in that family. I think an awareness is created when they learn the story of a person they might not even have noticed when passing by under normal circumstances, and provide support,” says Hacer Foggo. Matching is a word Foggo, one of the founders of the Deep Poverty Network (Derin Yoksulluk Ağı), frequently uses within the framework of the solidarity campaign “Change from Your Home” (Evinden Değiştir) that they launched at the beginning of the pandemic. Matching families in need with those who want to support these families is a step towards reducing the deepening inequalities in society. Foggo considers poverty a human rights issue. “The Deep Poverty Network is not an organization where the recipient is grateful to the giver. We have created a solidarity model between equals, and we are fighting for rights in this direction.”
Halime Güner
Women’s rights advocate Halime Güner founded the Flying Broom (Uçan Süpürge) in 1996 with the motto “no woman will wear herself out” (literally: make her hair a broom). Together with the Flying Broom team, she has carried out numerous studies to increase communication and cooperation between women’s non-governmental organizations and women. Since 1998, the Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival has been organized to make women’s labor in cinema visible. Güner is one of the pioneering names showing the change created by women’s solidarity in society.
Hande Özdinler
After finishing the Molecular Biology Department at Boğaziçi University, she completed her master’s degree in Genetic Biotechnology, also at Boğaziçi. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hande Özdinler, the Founding President of the ALS Research Laboratory at Northwestern University in the USA, succeeded in reviving dead nerve cells in the brain with a 60-day treatment as a result of her work here. She became one of the 10 scientists who made the best invention, giving hope especially to ALS patients. Özdinler says she started this work for her brother, whom she lost to a brain hemorrhage.
Hazal Kaya
The successful actress was chosen as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Turkey. UNFPA carries out work for reproductive choices and access to rights in this regard, for every woman, every girl child, and every individual to realize their potential, and works to zero out the unmet need for family planning, to zero out preventable maternal deaths, and to zero out sexual and social violence and harmful practices. Hazal Kaya announced this collaboration with the words, “I will not give up fighting for all women, girls, and vulnerable groups to live in a healthier, safer, and more equal world.”
Hülya Gülbahar
Defending women’s rights by acting with a feminist consciousness in the field of law means drawing a line of resistance against the patriarchal state. Feminist lawyer and spokesperson for the Women’s Platform for Equality (EŞİK), Hülya Gülbahar, has been conducting an organized struggle for many years on issues such as violence against women, abortion, and alimony rights. Gülbahar, who has been a volunteer lawyer for the Mor Çatı Women’s Shelter Foundation (Purple Roof) since 1978, has also been among the founders and organizers of many women’s platforms. In recent years, she has been fighting seriously against the false perception created regarding women’s alimony rights.
Itır Erhart
Itır Erhart, who has been a faculty member at the Istanbul Bilgi University Media and Communication Systems Department since 2001 and gives lectures on gender, human rights, sports, and media, co-founded Adım Adım (Step by Step), Turkey’s first charity running platform, with five friends in 2008. The Adım Adım formation provides financial resources and promotional support to important social responsibility projects through sports such as running, as well as swimming, cycling, and mountaineering. As of November 2021, Adım Adım has reached over 100,000 volunteer runners and over 860,000 donors.
İlayda Eskitaşçıoğlu and Bahar Aldanmaz
İlayda Eskitaşçıoğlu and Bahar Aldanmaz, founders of the Konuşmamız Lazım Derneği (We Need to Talk Association), both conduct awareness studies on menstruation and fight against period poverty. Period poverty is a problem related to the lack of access for girls and women in poor households to menstrual products, clean and safe toilets, and clean water, or the difficulty of this access. On the other hand, menstruation being seen as taboo is also part of this poverty. Eskitaşçıoğlu and Aldanmaz aim to break the taboo by making menstruation talkable, especially with the training they provide to girls and boys in schools.
İnci Eviner
“Women have fought for centuries with power and religion, which claimed rights over their bodies, to win their own bodies. That’s why women artists talk a lot about the ‘body’,” says İnci Eviner. In her art practice, ideas about the oppression of power on the female body, the functioning of representation policies, and the state of being a woman come to the fore.
İpek Duben
The Turkish contemporary artist, who holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of Chicago, a bachelor’s degree in art from the New York Studio School, and a doctorate in art history from Mimar Sinan University, addresses the concepts of social identity and gender roles, cultural prejudices, migration, and memory from a critical perspective in her productions in different media such as painting, sculpture, and installation. The Ten, Beden, Ben (Skin, Body, Me) exhibition, which recently opened at Salt Beyoğlu, reflects the artist’s art practice spanning over 40 years.
İrem Yanpar Coşdan
“The efforts in the fashion industry are mostly in the nature of a band-aid rather than offering an effective solution. For example, a brand can define its product as ‘sustainable’ just because it uses recycled polyester or organic cotton, but the material used is only the tip of the iceberg,” says Fashion Revolution Turkey coordinator İrem Yanpar Coşdan. Coşdan, who provides training and consultancy on sustainability to institutions through Yeşil Yama (Green Patch), which she founded, favors playing an active role in the transformation of the sector.
Jilet Sebahat
The colorful and outspoken figure of Beyoğlu nightlife, Jilet Sebahat, besides performing at Anahit (which recently closed), a venue in Galatasaray that hosted concerts, plays, parties, solidarity nights, and drag and queer performances, also writes for various print and digital publications, keeping a Beyoğlu journal from past to present. Jilet, who states that she was born as a queer feminist, touches upon problems such as identity imposition, economic difficulties, exclusion, being ignored, and dropping out of school due to the oppressive dominant mentality experienced by trans women in Turkey in her articles, and strives to change them.
Meltem Kurtsan
Meltem Kurtsan, the Founder and Honorary President of AGİDER (Entrepreneurs Association for Good), started her master’s degree in phytotherapy after her tenure as the chairperson of the board of directors at Otacı-Kurtsan Companies Group, which lasted for about 10 years. She describes the story that led to HerbaFarm: “I found a piece of land in the mountains of Bodrum Yalıkavak, where medicinal and aromatic plants grow spontaneously, and I named this place HerbaFarm. We turn the plants, fruits, and vegetables we grow with organic and permaculture principles into natural and healthy products and offer them for sale under the HerbaFarm Natural Products brand.” Kurtsan also gives training, including aromatherapy, at the HerbaFarm Academy, which she established on the same land, to share her experiences on the healing power of plants.
Neval Çam
Çam, born in 1999, developed software that translates sign language in 2017 while she was continuing her high school education, at just 16 years old. With this software, which aims to enable hearing and speech-impaired individuals to communicate comfortably in their daily lives with those who do not know sign language, she was chosen as the “most successful female software developer of the year” by Microsoft. Both this success and her personal perseverance carried her to the Computer Engineering department at Stanford University on a full scholarship.
Öykü Özgencil
Incomplit, the impact-oriented design studio founded by Özgencil in 2016, works to give disadvantaged children the ability to dream and organizes Story Completion Sessions in collaboration with non-governmental organizations. The drawings of the children, who complete half-finished tales with their imagination, are incorporated into fashion design products. Öykü Özgencil also recently organized gender equality workshops with children under the roof of SGDD ASAM (Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants). A book titled Pamuk Prensler ve Uyuyamayan Güzeller (Cotton Princes and the Beauties Who Cannot Sleep) was also prepared as an output of the work done with Syrian and Turkish children, for which artist and designer Meltem Şahin conducted the illustration session.
Özlem Türeci
Doctor Türeci, born in Lastrup, Germany, has signed many studies throughout her professional life aimed at making the immune system fight against cancer with modified genetic codes. Türeci, one of the co-founders of the biology company BionTech, which was launched in 2008, became the company’s chief medical officer in 2018. The company began working on a coronavirus vaccine with the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, and Özlem Türeci played an important role in these vaccine studies intended to be developed against SARS-CoV-2. The US pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which collaborated with BioNTech on the development of the vaccine, announced that the produced Covid-19 vaccine achieved 90 percent success, and today, the vaccine is the biggest reason for the pandemic’s mitigation. Türeci continues to serve as the President of the Association for Cancer Immunotherapy and to give lectures at the Mainz Johannes Gutenberg University.
Pelin Esmer
In the nearly hundred-year history of the Academy Awards, seven women have been nominated for best director, and only two of them have won the award. These numbers are a clear indicator of the sexism in the film industry. Pelin Esmer is a director who has made a place for herself in this male-dominated field with her effort and success. Esmer, who received numerous awards for her documentary film Kraliçe Lear (Queen Lear), which tells the stories of five of these women staging a play in different villages of Anatolia, following her first feature-length documentary Oyun (The Play) in 2005, which focused on women who perform theater in Arslanköy, Mersin, is one of those who makes women’s voices and experiences heard in cinema.
Ramize Erer
Cartoonist Ramize Erer, who started her drawing career at the humor magazine Gırgır in 1980, continued in different media such as Cumhuriyet, Radikal, Hıbır, and Leman. Erer, who won the Creative Courage Award at the Angoulême International Comics Festival held in France five years ago, said in her award speech that she drew all her cartoons with the sense of endless freedom her mother gave her, and that she talked about women’s desires and women’s problems in the characters she created. Erer is also one of the founders of the women’s humor magazine Bayan Yanı (Ms. Side).
Rana Nomak Sanyal
Prof. Dr. Rana Nomak Sanyal, a faculty member at the Boğaziçi University Chemistry Department, founded RS Research, which develops drug candidates that increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy while reducing its side effects, with her sister Sena Nomak. RS Research is currently conducting studies for the first cancer drug developed in Turkey. Sanyal says, “We wanted to do something that could make a difference in human life. We saw that we could make this difference in preclinical studies, and now it’s time for humans.”
Rümeysa Çamdereli
Rümeysa Çamdereli, one of the founders of Reçel Blog (Jam Blog), described as “a medium where we can speak our own words about the daily experiences, perceptions of social issues, interests, curiosities, troubles, hopes, anxieties, and struggles of women, and especially Muslim women,” and the Havle Women’s Association, defines herself as a Muslim feminist. Çamdereli has participated in the March 8th Feminist Night March both with her baby in her arms and with a banner reading, “Are you God? Damn your family.” She has also been involved in music since her high school years and takes the stage with her electric guitar. She fights for women, with women, by not fitting into the molds imposed by society.
Saadet Özkan
While Saadet Özkan was working in the Menderes district of İzmir, she revealed that the school principal had sexually abused many students for years and ensured that he was sentenced to 82 years and 6 months in prison. Özkan, who won many awards for this good deed, founded the Saadet Teacher Association for Combating Child Abuse (UCİM) in 2017. UCIM, a non-profit organization whose mission is to protect children from all kinds of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, continues to serve actively throughout the country with both professional and volunteer staff.
Sema Genel Karaosmanoğlu
Karaosmanoğlu started working in non-governmental organizations during university and later took part in projects related to both refugees and disasters. The Support to Life Association (Hayata Destek Derneği), which she founded in 2005, is a humanitarian aid organization that aims to ensure that communities affected by disasters have access to their basic rights and needs. The organization, which set out with the principles of non-discrimination, impartiality, independence, and accountability, carries out Emergency Aid, Refugee Support, Child Protection, and Civil Society Strengthening and Coordination activities. Karaosmanoğlu says, “We constantly experience the pleasure of being able to touch the life of even one person who has experienced disaster or seen war.”
Serra Titiz
Titiz, a graduate of Boğaziçi University’s Sociology Department, is a successful social entrepreneur who has signed many projects, especially the Mikado Sustainable Development Consultancy, which she founded in 2007, and the Gelecek Daha Net (The Future is Clearer) Youth Platform under its umbrella. Mikado develops and implements corporate responsibility and social entrepreneurship ideas that create multi-dimensional social benefits, together with the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and international organizations. The Gelecek Daha Net platform guides young people with creative methods to enable them to make conscious decisions about their future. Titiz also serves as a senior expert in United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) projects.
Sevda Karaca
“We want bread to feed our stomachs, and roses to feed our souls.” These words were on the tongues of American working women in 1908. Ekmek ve Gül (Bread and Roses), which started as a television program on Hayat TV in 2008 and has been a communication and organization network for women with its website since 2016, alludes to this famous saying. The site’s editor, Sevda Karaca, defends women’s rights by staying strictly bound to class consciousness. As Karaca stated in one of her articles, “Wherever there is a women’s resistance, Ekmek ve Gül is there. It holds the women’s resistance of the country in its memory, it shoots images, writes, speaks, and collects to turn it into the common memory of struggling women.”
Sibel Çakır
The animal-loving entrepreneur is the founder of Angels Farm, Turkey’s first rescued animal sanctuary. Çakır, who laid the foundations of the farm in Ankara 30 years ago, has been offering a second chance at life to over 2,000 lives—including cats, dogs, poultry, bulls, donkeys, rabbits, and many more—who have fled from disasters and difficult conditions, come from experimental laboratories, been saved from going to the slaughterhouse, or abandoned on the street, for more than six years in the Vişneli village of İzmir. With the peaceful and secure environment provided by Çakır and her team, they are reconnecting with life once again.
Songül Öden
Theater, cinema, and television actress Songül Öden, who has been serving as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, Turkey since 2012, has been supporting UNFPA’s field, advocacy, and communication activities related to all vulnerable groups, especially women, girls, immigrants, and refugees, for over 10 years, and participates in panels and events. Songül Öden especially makes field visits all over Turkey within the scope of UNFPA’s humanitarian aid program, visits various projects where support is given to women and girls in the field of health and protection, and gives the message, “You are not alone,” firsthand to all those in need. The successful actress also brought her experiences during this process to the stage. Based on the stories told by the women and girls she met during her field visits as a Goodwill Ambassador and by UNFPA staff, she developed the seven female characters who are the subject of the play Lâl Hayal. She brings these seven female characters to life on theater stages all over Turkey to make their voices heard by a much wider audience.
Şengül Akçar
Akçar, who did her master’s degree in public policy at Boğaziçi University after her civil engineering education, founded the Foundation for the Support of Women’s Work (KEDV) in 1986 so that low-income women could improve their own and their families’ living conditions and participate in economic life. The foundation, which increases access to sustainable business models, has supported women in starting joint businesses in areas such as accessories, home textiles, food, soap, catering, child care and education services, restaurants, and organic farming, and has opened a business portal for women entrepreneurs. Akçar is also an Ashoka fellow in the field of social entrepreneurship.
Şule Yücebıyık
Yücebıyık created an impact in the public opinion in the field of gender equality with the communication campaigns #SevgiDildeBaşlar (Love Begins in Language) and #AdınıKoy (Name It), which she designed on behalf of Borusan during her time as the Borusan Holding Corporate Communications Director. The entrepreneur, who is the President of the Corporate Communicators Association (Kurumsal İletişimciler Derneği), develops impact projects that serve the 17 Global Goals of the United Nations with the Science Of Impact platform she founded in 2018, while also pursuing the goal of instilling a passion for science and providing competencies to high school students with her social enterprise, Bilim Virüsü (Science Virus). Yücebıyık says, “Science is not about building the path that is imposed on you, but the path that walks with you and your heart.”
Ümmiye Koçak
Koçak, born in 1957 in the Çelemli Village of Adana, was not sent to school after primary school because they were 10 siblings, and she developed herself with the books she read. Koçak, who moved to Arslanköy in Mersin when she got married, decided to form a theater group to tell the stories of women and founded the Arslanköy Women’s Theater Group (Arslanköy Kadınlar Tiyatro Topluluğu) with the seven women she convinced. The first play the group staged was Taş Bademler (Stone Almonds) by Remzi Özçelik, followed by Kadının Feryadı (The Cry of the Woman) and Hasret Çiçekleri (Flowers of Longing). In 2013, Koçak wrote and directed the film Yün Bebek (Wool Doll), which deals with the problem of violence against women. The film won her the “best Eurasian woman artist in cinema” award at the 2nd New York Eurasian Film Festival. Koçak is now the writer and director of the play Ana, Gökyüzü Delinmiş (Mother, the Sky is Pierced), which draws attention to the problems that global warming will create.
Yakın Ertürk
Sociologist Yakın Ertürk, who served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women between 2003 and 2009, says in her book Sınır Tanımayan Şiddet (Violence Without Borders) that the struggle for rights that women continue individually and collectively has become the most effective global movement of our time. Ertürk is truly a pioneer woman with her struggle against gender inequality.
Zülal Kalkandelen
She is a writer, journalist, music critic, blogger, radio programmer, and a vegan activist. In addition to being the translator of Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson’s book The Face on Your Plate: The Truth About Food, she is also among the authors of the first Turkish book written about veganism, Veganizm: Ahlakı, Siyaseti, Mücadelesi (Veganism: Its Ethics, Politics, Struggle). Kalkandelen says in her book Vegan Devrimi ve Hayvan Özgürlüğü (The Vegan Revolution and Animal Freedom), “Humans and non-human animals should be granted the right to live their lives without being exposed to violence and exploitation. This is the biggest revolution before humanity in the 21st century.” She currently works as a columnist at Cumhuriyet Newspaper and works at the non-profit Independent Animal (Bağımsız Hayvan) platform, of which she is a co-founder.