HALIDÉ EDIB HANOUM, AUTHOR AND PATRIOT—A WOMAN DOWERED WITH THE ALL-CONQUERING GIFTS OF THE TRULY BRAVE
There can scarcely be a worse misinterpretation of the Turks to-day than the common assumption that they do not value their women. As an example to prove this we turn to the charming writer and patriot, Halidé Edib Hanoum. Not only well known for her work in England and America, she is respected and honoured throughout the length and breadth of her own country, trusted with positions of responsibility, consulted and, above all, listened to, by those at the helm of affairs.
As one of their brilliant journalists once said in the ante-room of the Assembly: "We gave her a place in the army. She would have gone with the delegates to Lausanne had her health permitted. She was elected a Member of the Assembly, and now we realise the Constitution does not yet admit women, we shall remove all such restrictions."
Strong evidence of eager homage to a brilliant woman emphatically expressed! I had met this famous lady in the old days, when we were friends with Turkey, and am naturally anxious to renew the acquaintance, if only to talk over the terrible happenings that have transformed her, alas! into one of the bitterest of England's enemies. I am sure that, like Mustapha Kemal, she will be rejoiced to come back to us when we both change.
Her little farmhouse, most charming of rustic homes, stands on a rough road, at this time of year inches deep in mud, about an hour's drive from Angora.
