First Woman MP and University President Türkan Akyol Passes Away
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Academic and politician Prof. Dr. Türkan Akyol who was the first woman member of the Parliament and the first woman to be elected president of a university in Turkey lost her life today (September 7) at the age of 89 at the Hacettepe University hospital.
Her funeral ceremony will take place tomorrow (September 8) in Maltepe Mosque and she will be laid to rest in Karşıyaka Cemetery.
About Türkan Akyol
Politician, physician and academic Türkan Akyol was born on October 12, 1928 in Istanbul. She completed her primary education in various places of Turkey due to her father's profession as a staff officer. She graduated from the Erenköy Girls High School in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1947.
Akyol studied medicine at Ankara University and graduated in 1953. She became a physician specializing in pulmonology and pursued an academic career at her alma mater. She became an assistant professor in 1965 and a full professor in 1970. Between 1959 and 1965, Akyol conducted academic studies in the United States, France and the Netherlands.
On March 25, 1971, she was appointed Minister of Health and Social Security in the cabinet of Nihat Erim, thus becoming the first woman government minister of Turkey. On December 13 that year, she resigned from her post in the government and returned to the university.
In 1980, Akyol was elected president of Ankara University, becoming again a first, this time as Turkey's first woman rector. She served at this post until 1982 when she quit due to disagreements with the Council of Higher Education. She lectured at the university until 1983 when Erdal İnönü invited her to co-found the Social Democracy Party (SODEP). Akyol served as the party's deputy chairperson.
Türkan Akyol entered the parliament as deputy of Izmir Province following the 1987 general election. She returned to her post as lecturer at the end of the legislative term in 1991. In 1992, she was appointed Minister of State responsible for Woman and Family Affairs in the coalition government of Süleyman Demirel. In 1993, she was appointed minister again in the cabinet of Tansu Çiller, Turkey's first woman prime minister. (AS/DG)