Hatı Çırpan

Who was Hatı Çırpan?

Hatı Çırpan was one of the first female members of parliament in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, elected in the 1935 general elections.

Just before the Second Language Congress, on July 16, 1934, President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk left Ankara for an excursion to the village of Kazan, 50 kilometers away from the capital Ankara. During this excursion, Atatürk was introduced to Satı Kadın, who was the village chief of Kazan. She was a peasant from Central Anatolia who had fought for four years during the Turkish War of Independence. The two engaged in conversation, after which Atatürk was reported to have taken a liking to Satı Kadın's achievements and intelligence.

According to Afet İnan, Atatürk said after meeting her, "This is the [kind of] woman who can thrive as a member of parliament." Satı Kadın was sponsored and supported in her successful campaign for office by Atatürk himself. Later, she changed her first name to Hatı at the advice of Atatürk, who was interested in the civilization of the Hattians at the time, and because her former name Satı meant "sale" or "purchase" in Turkish. She adopted the surname of Çırpan after the 1934 Surname Law required all Turkish citizens to have a surname.