Kara Fatma

Kara Fatma

Kara Fatma (* 1888 in Erzurum ; † July 2, 1955 in Istanbul ), bourgeois Fatma Seher Erden , was a highly decorated Turkish national heroine who stood out from 1919 to 1923 as a soldier and militia leader in the rank of first lieutenant ( Üsteğmen ) during the Turkish Liberation War .

The word kara literally means “black” or “gloomy” and is used as a synonym for “brunette”; however, when used for warriors, it means “courageous”.

Life

Fatma Seher Erden was born in Erzurum in the Ottoman Empire . Her father was the Agha Yusuf. She first appeared as a soldier in the Balkan Wars . Her husband and her two children died on the Caucasus front in the First World War .

In 1919 she traveled to Sivas , where she attended the Sivas Congress held by Mustafa Kemal Pascha . She requested that she be listed in the army . After Mustafa Kemal Pascha's approval, she formed a militia group. 43 women and 700 men were under their command. She was captured twice by the Greek army . After an interview in the Tanin newspaper , she was taken to General Nikolaos Trikoupis' headquarters , where the general spoke to her. She escaped from prison shortly afterwards. She fought on the fronts in İzmit - Bursa and in Izmir . According to columnist Yılmaz Özdil , their unit was one of the first to march into Izmir on September 9, 1922 during the capture of Izmir , which had been occupied by the Greeks up until then . Your unit controlled Karşıyaka north of the Gulf of Izmir .

Kara Fatma (bottom center) and brothers in arms

Late years

Although female soldiers were unknown until 1919, Kara Fatma was officially made a soldier, as was Halide Edip Adıvar later under Mustafa Kemal Pascha. She began her military career as a corporal and ended up as Üsteğmen (First Lieutenant). She then retired and donated her pension to the Turkish Red Crescent . She disappeared almost completely from public memory until 1933, when a journalist found her living in poverty with her grandchild in a former Russian monastery in Istanbul. In 1944 she published her memoir. She was honored by taking part in national holiday military parades.

Kara Fatma died on July 2, 1955 in the Darülaceze , a shelter for the poor and the elderly run by the Istanbul City Council and where she spent the last years of her life. She was buried in the Kulaksız Cemetery.

Honors and Legacies

She was awarded the Independence Medal by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk - a medal for participants in the War of Independence.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kim Kimdir? ( Turkish ).
2. ↑ Yılmaz Özdil: Kara Fatma. In: Hürriyet. (Turkish).
3. ↑ Türkhaber (Turkish).
4. ↑ Tarihhaber (Turkish).