Who is Sabiha Sertel

Born in Thessaloniki during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, Sabiha Sertel’s life represents both an individual struggle and a reflection of the evolution of modern Turkish press history. Despite her family’s financial and social difficulties, she pursued education and began writing at a young age, focusing on the role of women in society. Her marriage to Zekeriya Sertel was not only a personal partnership but also a long-standing publishing collaboration. Through magazines such as Büyük Mecmua and Resimli Ay, she persistently highlighted issues like women’s participation in working life, questioning gender inequality, and social justice. In many biographies, Sabiha Sertel is remembered not only as a journalist but also as an intellectual voice of the early Republic period.

Sabiha Sertel’s life, press trials, and years in exile

Sabiha Sertel’s journalism followed a path critical of authority yet deeply connected to social issues. Within the intellectual circle of Resimli Ay and later Tan newspaper, she used her pen boldly to defend workers’ rights, women’s freedom, and freedom of expression. In her writings, she openly opposed fascism, imperialism, and authoritarian practices, facing numerous investigations and court trials as a result. Despite censorship, political pressure, and financial hardship, she continued her work. The attack and destruction of Tan printing house marked not just the closure of a newspaper but also an attempt to silence the free press, making Sabiha Sertel’s name even more prominent in Turkish intellectual history.

To fully understand who Sabiha Sertel was, one must look at her exile and later years. Unable to work freely in Turkey, she moved abroad with her family and lived in Paris, Budapest, Moscow, and Baku, continuing to write. Her memoir Roman Gibi (“Like a Novel”) combines her personal story with a firsthand account of the political climate of early Republican Turkey. She spent her final years in Baku, where she passed away in 1968. Today, when discussing press freedom, women’s rights, and social justice, her name remains a lasting reference. The most concise answer to the question who is Sabiha Sertel is that she was a courageous journalist, a pioneering woman, and a determined intellectual whose legacy continues to inspire debate and respect in history. Date Published: 2025-11-09 04:33:24