The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1922-10-23
BY Milton Bronner


NEA Service Staff Correspondent
London, Oct. 23.-The woman be-
hind Kemal.
That's what they call Halid
Edib Hanoum, one of the first Turk
ish women of all time to make her
mark in history.
She is said to be the person who
has inspired Kemal Mustapha with
his grandiose dreams of a revived
Turkey astraddle Of the straits of
Bosphorus, with one foot in Europe
and the. other in Asia. 1t is she
who is supposed to be constantly
whispering in his ears the battle. cry
-"Turkey--all Turkey-for the
Turks!"
Romantic legend is already busy
with her story and it is already hard
to sift fact from fiction. 1t is known
that she is the daughter of Turk
who was an official at the Yildiz
Kiosk, the home of the sultans at
Constantinople. 1t is known that
she was one Of the first real Turkish
women to be graduated from the
American College at Constantinople.
She has absorbed both Turkish
and European cultures.
Highly Cultured
She is quoted as saying:
Hn the most approved Turkish
housewifely fashion, l can go to a
market and pick out female slave
for the household and know the ex-
act price to pay for her. And I can
go to European butcher shop like
any European woman and select the
proper joint Of beef or mutton.
"As Turk can select dancing
girl and know what her services are
worth. As European, I can as
sumo European dress, play tennis,
dance in the Western fashion, play
the piano, sing the latest London
and Paris successes and hold~fluent
conversations in French, Italian and
English"
When very young-she is only 80
now-she married Turkish journal
ist and they have several children.
During the war she was friend and
confidant of the all-powerful Turk
ish triumvirate-Enver, Taalat and
Djemal. And it is at this point that
romantic legend steps in.
There are three separate yarns
about how she happened to join the
Angora forces:
Legend No. One-For her connec-
tion with the anti-Armenian activi-
ties of Djemal Pasha, she was exiled
by the allies to the Isle of Malta
whence she escaped to Angora.
Legend No. Two-The Turkish
government at Constantinople, sus-
pecting her sympathy with the Ma
tionalists under Kemal, was prepar-
ing to arrest her for treason. But
she struck up an acquaintance with
a movie operator, who was also ar
aeronaut and one fine morning she
sailed away above the white shining
minarets of the Turakish capital and
ldHueU safely III ASIA MlHOA'
Legend No. Three.-The allies
wanted to keep her in CONSTANT
nople, but one moonlit night she was
ferried across the Bosphorous to the
Asiatic shore, where she was met by
Nationalists who piloted her past the
English lines and to safety.
In kemal's Cabinet
She soon played leading role at
Kemal's capital. As Turkish wo-
man who had discarded the Turkish
veil and urged other Turkish women
to do so as the author of novel
which attacked many of the evils Of
the harem system, as one who
nursed wounded Turks in spite of
Mohammedan teachings, she cap
tured the fancy Of the women and
taught them to read and write.
She became the champion of the
new woman movement in Islam, say
emancipated women,
Turkey will never become reunited"
Recognizing her powers, Kemal
broke all records by making her
minister of education in his first
cabinet. AS cabinet minister she
has gone far beyond supervising edu-
cation. She has been the most trust
ed of Kcmal's advisers.