Sabiha Gökçen
| Sabiha Gökçen | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
22 March 1913 Bursa, Hüdavendigâr Vilayet, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | 22 March 2001 (aged 88) Ankara, Turkey |
| Alma mater | Uskudar American Academy. |
| Occupation | Aviator, author and spokesperson |
| Known for | First Turkish woman to fly during conflict. |
| Parent(s) | Mustafa İzzet Bey and Hayriye Hanım |
Sabiha Gökçen (Turkish: [sabiha ɡøkt͡ʃen]; 22 March 1913 – 22 March 2001) was a Turkish aviator. She was the first Turkish female combat pilot, aged 23. According to some sources, including Guinness World Records, she was also the world's first female fighter pilot, being enrolled in the Military Aviation Academy in Eskisehir in 1936. However, others such as Marie Marvingt and Eugenie Mikhailovna Shakhovskaya preceded her as military pilots in other roles, probably without a military academy enrollment. She was one of the eight adopted children of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
Gökçen made headlines and sparked controversy, in 2004, when Hrant Dink, a journalist of Turkish-Armenian descent, published an interview with Sabiha's niece that revealed that she was of Armenian origin. Her adopted sister Ülkü Adatepe disputed this during an interview, stating that Sabiha was actually of Bosniak ancestry.
Sabiha Gökçen's origins are a matter of dispute. According to official Turkish sources and interviews with Sabiha Gökçen, she was the daughter of Mustafa Izzet Bey and Hayriye Hanım. During Atatürk's visit to Bursa in 1925, Sabiha, who was only twelve years old, asked for permission to talk with Atatürk and expressed her wish to study in a boarding school. After learning her story and about her miserable living conditions, Atatürk decided to adopt her and asked Sabiha's brother for permission to take her to the Çankaya Presidential Residence in Ankara, where Sabiha would live among Atatürk's other adoptive daughters, Zehra, Afet and Rukiye. Sabiha attended the Çankaya Primary School in Ankara and the Üsküdar American Academy in Istanbul.
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