LATİFE GAZİ MUSTAFA KEMAL OR LATİFE UŞŞAKİ

Latife Uşşaki was the wife of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk between 1923 and 1925.

Latife Hanım was the daughter of one of the wealthiest merchants of İzmir. She was born in 1899 in İzmir, where she received her high school education. In 1921 she was in Europe attending law schools in Paris and London. When she arrived back at Turkey, the Independence War was still not over.

On September 11, 1922, when she heard that Mustafa Kemal Pasha was in İzmir leading the Turkish Army, she went to the headquarters and offered him the opportunity to stay in her family mansion in Göztepe for security reasons. Mustafa Kemal Pasha was pleased to accept, and so their relationship started.

Latife Hanım and Mustafa Kemal's marriage took place in 1923, the same year the Turkish Republic was founded. The couple had met four months before they married.

The couple wed in a civil ceremony, the first in Turkey, with Latife's face uncovered. She also lobbied for women's right to vote.

Mustafa Kemal divorced Latife two years later. She became a recluse, never talking about her relationship with the founder of modern Turkey, dying eventually in 1975.

As The New York Times put it shortly after their marriage:

“ Her clothes are a pledge of reform. Her riding breeches indicate her intention of sweeping away harem conventions . ”
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