Süreyya Ağaoğlu

Süreyya Ağaoğlu (1903 – 29 December 1989) was a Turkish-Azerbaijani writer, jurist, and the first female lawyer in Turkish history.^[1][2]

Süreyya Ağaoğlu
Sürəyya Ağaoğlu
Born	1903 Shusha, Azerbaijan
Died	29 December 1989 Turkey

Early life and education

Ağaoğlu was the daughter of Ahmet Ağaoğlu, a prominent Azerbaijani and later Turkish politician of the early 20th century.^[3] After the fall of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1920, the Ağaoğlus moved to Turkey where Süreyya enrolled in the Faculty of Law at Istanbul University.^[4]

Career

After graduation Ağaoğlu worked as a lawyer from 1927 to her death in 1989. In 1928, taking the free lawyer license and became Turkey's first female lawyer.^[5] For her initiative, Istanbul Bar Association was elected a member of the International Bar Association. From 1946 to 1960, she was the only female board member of this union.^[6] After 1960 Turkish coup d'état she became his brother's lawyer. At that time, he entered politics as a member of the newly formed New Turkey Party and became the party's leader in^[7]

At one point she worked as an assistant to Professor Schwartz and Türkan Rado.^[8] She is the author of books What I Saw in London (Londra'da Gördüklerim) and One Life Has Passed Just Like This (Bir Hayat Böyle Geçti), where she discussed many legal issues and wrote biographical information about her father.^[9][10] She was one of the contributors to the women's magazine Kadın Gazetesi.^[11]

Personal life

She married German lawyer Werner Taschenbreker in 1950 and divorced in the 1960s. They had no children.^[12]

Family

Her father Ahmet Ağaoğlu was a prominent Azerbaijani and naturalized Turkish politician, publicist and journalist. He was one of the founders of Pan-Turkism.^[13] Her sister Tezer Taşkıran was a writer, politician and teacher.^[14][15] Her brother Samet Ağaoğlu was a poet and politician.^[16]

Death

Süreyya Ağaoğlu died of a cerebral haemorrhage in 1989.