İclal Ersin

İclal Ersin Karakaptan (born in 1915) was the first female Turkish economist.

She was introduced to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, by Celal Bayar, the first director general of the bank. She asked Atatürk for an opportunity of further education abroad. In 1939, she obtained a scholarship to study in University of Geneva, Switzerland. In 1941, she returned to Turkey with a PhD title in economics gained upon her doctoral thesis on the "Occupation tax in Turkey". After serving as chief inspector at the Ankara main branch, and as controller in the branch offices of Beyoğlu and Galata in Istanbul, she was appointed manager of the bank's newly opened Nişantaşı branch in Istanbul in 1953, becoming so the first ever Turkish female at this position. She continued for ten years in this post.