Neriman Cahit

Neriman Cahit (1937 - 18 May 2025) is a Turkish Cypriot poet and author. She is known as a leading figure of Turkish Cypriot poetry and a vocal advocate of women's rights.

Biography Neriman Cahit was born in Krini (known as Kırnı in Turkish at the time) in 1937. The eldest of three sisters, she went to her village's primary school for three years. Her parents, concerned for the education of their daughter, transferred her to the Atatürk Primary School in Nicosia, where she resided for the rest of her life. She started penning her thoughts at the 5th year of primary school.

She went to the Victoria Girls' High School, where she studied classics with the help of her philosophy teacher and became increasingly vocal with her writing. She then went on to study at the Teachers' College, and was forced to transfer to the newly formed Teachers' College of Turkish Cypriots in 1957 due to the nascent intercommunal strife.

After her graduation, she was sent to the village of Klavdia for her first duty. She continued teaching for 33 years and often in remote villages, claiming that it was "as if she was exiled because of her opposition". During her career, she was a vocal figure in the Turkish Cypriot Teachers' Union (KTÖS) and defended women's rights, free press and labor unions.

Her first book, K.T.Ö.S. Mücadele Tarihi ("History of KTÖS Struggle") was published in 1987, followed by her first poetry book, Sıkıntıya Vurulan Düğüm in 1988. Her first book entirely focused on women, Konu: Kadın ("Subject: Woman") was published in 1989. She is the founder of the Women's Research Center and currently writes periodicals in the Turkish Cypriot daily newspaper Yeni Düzen.