Latife Uşşaki

Who was Latife Uşşaki?

Latife Uşakizâde was Mustafa Kemal Pasha's wife between 1923 and 1925. She was related from her father's side to Turkish novelist Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil.

She was born in 1898 in İzmir to one of the most prominent trading families of the city, with roots in the city of Uşak, whence their unofficial family name of Uşakizâde. She completed her high school studies in İzmir and in 1919 she went abroad to study Law in Paris and London. When she came back to Turkey, the Turkish War of Independence was nearing its end without being over yet.

On September 11, 1922, upon returning to her family mansion in Izmir, she was confronted by soldiers who notified her that the Pasha had taken the house as General Headquarters in Izmir. After convincing the soldiers that she actually belonged to the household, she was allowed in.

They married on January 29, 1923, when Mustafa Kemal Pasha had returned to İzmir just after his mother Zübeyde Hanım's death. For two and a half years, Lâtife Hanım symbolized the new face of Turkish women as a first lady who was very present in public life which, in Turkey, was a novelty by the standards of her day.