Leyla Açba

Princess Leyla Gülefşan Açba-Ançabadze (born August 10, 1898 in Constantinople , † November 6, 1931 in Sivas ) was a princess at the Ottoman court. She was the daughter of the Abkhazian prince Mehmet-Refik-Bey Achba-Anchabadze and the Georgian princess Machscheref Emukhvari. Her family belonged to the Caucasian - Russian nobility who emigrated to Istanbul during the Russo-Ottoman War in 1877 .

Her maternal aunt, Princess Peyveste Emuhvari , was the wife of Sultan Abdülhamid II , who ruled from 1876 to 1909. Her cousin Princess Fatma Pesend Achba, later became the wife of Sultan Abdülhamid II.

From 1919 Princess Achba entered the palace service, like some of her relatives, and became the lady-in-waiting of the last Ottoman empress Emine Nazikeda .

Princess Achba served her mistress until the empress and the rest of the sultan's family were exiled . After the establishment of the Turkish Republic , she moved to live with her aunt in Sivas, where she died of tuberculosis in 1931, completely impoverished . Shortly before her death, she wrote her memoirs , which give a detailed account of life at the Sultan's court.

Princess Achba was the first Ottoman lady-in-waiting to write her memoirs. Her cousin Princess Mihri Achba (later known as Mihri Müşfik ) was the first female artist in Turkey.

Works

• LA pm: Bir Çerkes Prensesinin Harem Hatıraları . Edadil Açba. 4th enlarged edition. Timaş, ​​Istanbul 2010, ISBN 978-6-05114225-8 .