Safiye Ali

Safiye Ali (2 February 1894 – 5 July 1952) or Hatice Safiye Ali was a Turkish physician. She was the first female doctor in the Republic of Turkey. She graduated from the Robert College in Istanbul. She treated soldiers in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and the Turkish War of Independence. She studied medicine in Germany in 1916 and opened her office in Istanbul in 1923.

Safiye researched maternal and infant health. She was also the first woman to teach medicine in Turkey.

Early life Safiye Ali was born in Istanbul to Emine Hasene Hanım (her mother) and Ali Kırat Pasha (her father). Her father died while she was young, and she was raised in the house of her grandfather, Sheikh Hacı Emin Pasha of Mecca.

Education In 1916, Safiye graduated from Arnavutköy American College for Girls and was sent to the University of Würzburg (Julius-Maximilians-Universität) at Würzburg. Her education was partly funded by the Ottoman Ministry of Education. During her studies, she took lessons in philosophy and history.

Women's People Party and Safiye Ali Safiye was a member of the delegation in the Women's People Party, which promoted the active participation of women in politics and emphasized the needs of children. The Turkish government dismissed the party in 1924, but they continued to organize under the name of the Turkish Women's Union.

She served in the Women's Union as the head of the Health Committee. She also fought to end prostitution, working to establish a girls' dormitory for any girls who were forced into the sex trade.

Legacy

A family health center in Istanbul is named after her. On 2 February 2021, Google celebrated her 127th birthday with a Google Doodle. On 30 November 2022, a street in Dortmund was named after her.