Halki Finil Advival – Wik logerinda

Halide Edib Adıvar (Turc Ottoman: Khalid Adib Adivayevan), Née EN 1882 OU 1884, et Morte Le January 9, 1964 , is a woman of letters, teacher, politician and a Turkish feminist.

Youth and education [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Halide Edib was born in Constantinople, capital of the Ottoman Empire. His father was one of the secretaries of the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid II. She was educated, at first, at the home of her parents by tutors. They are the ones who awaken his curiosity for European and Ottoman literature. They also give him lessons in theology, philosophy and sociology, teach him to play the piano, and teach him English, French and Arabic ^{[ first ]} . She also receives mathematics lessons by the Ottoman mathematician and astronomer, Salih Zekki (in) . In 1893, she made a brief stint at the American College for Girls, to which she returned in 1899 to graduate. She was one of the first bachelor of her time in 1901.

Beginning of his adult life [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The same year, she married her private math teacher, Salih Zekki, born in 1864 and therefore twenty years her elder. From their union are born two sons: Ayetullah and Hikmetullah.

In the same period, the decline, financial and military, of the Ottoman Empire promotes the development of an internal opposition to the authoritarianism of the Sultan Abdülhamid. Inspired by the French Revolution of 1789 and ideas of intellectuals, such as Namik Kemal, the opposition crystallizes around the movement of young Turks. The crisis becomes stronger and stronger at the start of XX ^{It is} century and gradually turns into insurrection. Sultan Abdülhamid is forced, to stop this challenge, to announce in July 1908 The summons of the Parliament and the recovery of the Ottoman Constitution of 1876 (a more liberal inspiration, establishing a parliamentary regime and which had been suspended) ^{[ 2 ]} .

In this context, Halide Salih, returning from a stay in England, passionately rubs shoulders with the intellectual environment of the capital, and publishes articles in newspapers and magazines, in particular Tannin (Journal founded in 1908 by the poet Tevfik Fikret), Mehasin , Proximity , And Picture book . These articles, which mainly relate to the status of women and their education, arouse strong reactions in traditionalist and conservative circles. Following one of his articles in the Tannin , she intervenes, at the request of the Ministry of Education, to adapt the pedagogy and teaching in the schools of girls of Constantinople, then quickly renounces this mission to the suite of disagreements ^{[ 3 ]} . It was at this time that she also published her first novels ^{[ 4 ]} .

A contemporary describes it as “A light, very small, with masses of Auburn hair and large oriental, expressive eyes. She has opinions on most subjects, and discusses the problems of the day in a way that charms, not so much because of what she says, but because it is so different from what we expect ^{[ 5 ]} » .

In 1910, she divorced Salih Zeki, the latter having taken a second wife as authorized by Islamic law, and resumed her name of Halide Edip. In 1911, returning from a new stay in England, she attended the “Turkish homes”, supporters of Panturquism, a Turkish nationalist movement. Their goal was to encourage economic and social progress. It is also within these homes that the first mixed courses are given, a symbol of a great advance for the time. Halide Edip became the first member of it in 1912, while Balkan wars burst. Under the influence of nationalist movements, she published in 1912 her novel, New Turan ^{[ 4 ]} . She also co-bonds an organization for the promotion of women, Taali-i Nisvan ^{[ 6 ]} .

First World War and Genocide of Armenians: a controversial role [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In the midst of the world war, between 1916 and 1917, she intervened as an Ottoman inspector for schools in Damascus and Beirut. She heads an Armenian orphanage at the Saint-Joseph college in Mont-Lebanon in Antoura. On the orders of Djemal Pasha, whose role is known in the Armenian genocide ^{[ 7 ] , [ 8 ]} , it gives these Armenian children Muslim names and their Muslim religion teaches. She defends herself from any participation in the genocide, writing, in 1918, “We have massacred the Armenian innocent population […] Indeed, we have tried to destroy the Armenians thanks to methods specific to the Middle Ages. Today we live the saddest and dark times of our national life ^{[ first ]} . » “I opposed the fact that Armenian children have Turkish or Muslim first names. Djemal Pasha explained the need as follows: in Damascus, there were a number of orphanages led by the Armenians who were supported by the management team of Djemal Pacha. These only accepted Armenian children. There was no room in these orphanages and financially there was no longer any possibility of granting help. Ayin Tura ^{[ note 1 ]} was planned only for Muslim children and there were always places. In order for Armenian children not recovered by Armenian orphanages to be accepted in Ayin Tura, it was compulsory to call them with Turkish or Muslim first names. In truth, there was no religious education. That is to say that there was no desire to convert these children to Islam ^{[ 9 ]} . » Its role is actually strongly controversial. Probably because of her nationalist and pants ideology, she has an ambiguous relationship with the Armenians. His ambivalence was already visible in his relationship with the priest and Armenian musician Komitas. They became friends in 1914 and Halid Edip regularly invited him to come to sing at her house. When she describes this period in her writings, she seems to hide any reference to Armenia. First of all, she refers to her music as “Anatolian” ^{[ first ]} , and not Armenian, adding that he had stolen these music to the Turks in “Changing the words in Armenian” ^{[ first ]} . Denying her any Armenian genealogy, she also writes “Whether Turkish or Armenian, he was an Armenian nationalist; But in his temperament and in his heart, he was undoubtedly a Turkish Anationalian ” ^{[ first ]} . Their relationship ends during the Armenian genocide of which Komitas was a victim.

In fact, for some observers such as his former classmate Aghavnie Yeghenian ^{[ ten ]} , it is one of the figures behind the turquification and the Islamization imposed on the orphanage ^{[ 11 ]} . Certain testimonies of former residents of the orphanage are overwhelming: “My little brother and I had been taken to Lebanon and placed in a Turkish orphanage opened by the vicious and infamous favorite of Kemal Ataturk, Halide Hanim Edib Adıvar (…). But these orphanages had not been created for humanitarian reasons: they were made to “turns” the Armenian children who had been made orphaned by the young Turks of which Halide Edib was part ” ^{[ twelfth ]}

“The majority of punished children could not walk for several weeks. Some have lost their teeth, others had their nose broken. The majority passed out by calling for help. For more than two years, it was recurrent. »» ^{[ twelfth ]} If there is no mention of his direct role in the imposition of these abuses, Halide Edib was very present. In fact, it is rather for her inaction that she is criticized, since she would not interfere in any way: “She didn’t seem to care (…) She said she wrote a book on orphans (…) Did she think about our suffering? To our terrible past, to our dark future? Did she have the slightest maternal instinct that could have allowed her to sympathize with our situation? As soon as the bells sounded and we went to class, she returned to her neighborhoods and stayed there until nightfall, where she reappeared for the soil of the flag ^{[ twelfth ]} . »

End of the First World War and Turkish War of Independence [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Halide Edip Adıvar with Mustapha Kemal, in January 1923, at Gebze station.

She remarried in 1917 with Doctor Adnan Adıvar (in) , and took a job the following year as a lecturer in literature at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Istanbul. In the same period, it is increasingly active in the nationalist movement of Turkey. She becomes a member of the Karakol secret organization ^{[ 4 ]} (created following the occupation of Constantinople by French, English and Italian troops, in November 1918 ^{[ 13 ]} ) ^{[ 14 ]} . It also participates in a smuggling activity to strengthen the armament of the nationalist movement, as well as in political meetings ^{[ 4 ]} . She is appointed in an honorary majority of the nationalist army.

This period inspires him different stories in the following years, Türk’un Improvised from Fire ( The baptism of Turkish fire ), a 1922, one Shoot ( To death the trail ), in 1923, as well as novels, in particular: Ordeal ( Fire shirt ) In 1922, Heart pain ( The heart has its sorrows ) a 1924, one Zeyno’s son ( Zeyno’s son ) in 1928 ^{[ 15 ]} .

The Turkish Republic is proclaimed the October 29, 1923 . General Mustafa Kemal becomes the first president. But he hardens the regime in the following years, prohibiting unions and opposition parties, for the benefit of a single party. A true cult of personality is established. Halide Edib and her husband, who have become unwanted opponents, have to leave Turkey.

Life in exile and return [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

They stay four years in England, then ten years in France ^{[ 15 ]} . She was invited to the United States, in 1928 and 1932, for a series of conferences, then in India ^{[ 15 ]} . She is particularly interested in India in the movement for independence, as well as in the existence of an Islamic identity, among others, within this nation ^{[ 16 ]} . In 1935, she published The Clown and his Daughter , English title which became in Turkish in 1936, Grocery store , in French Rue de l’Épicerie aux flies . It is his most famous and long work the best -selling literary work in Turkey ^{[ 15 ]} .

The death of Atatürk in 1938 allowed him to return to Turkey the following year, on the eve of the Second World War. In 1940, she founded the Chair of English Philology, at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Istanbul, a pulpit that she animated for ten years. In 1950, candidate of the Democratic Party, she was elected deputy to the great National Assembly of Turkey. She resigned in 1954.

She died on January 9, 1964 in Istanbul and was buried in the Merkezefendi cemetery (in) ^{[ 17 ]} .

Halide Edip is considered today as a complex figure, making its different identities play – Ottoman, Turkish, Muslim, feminine, and intellectual. In her works, she tries to analyze the rapid transition from which the company faced following the First World War. His novels therefore brew a wide panel of characters, from different social classes ^{[ 18 ]} .

Like her nickname, “Mother of the Turks”, she would have succeeded in creating a point of intersection between different ideologies considered at the start as rival: modernity, Islamism, westernization, and the question of women ^{[ 19 ]} .

Nationalism [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Halide Edip Adıvar is a fervent Turkish nationalist. It is more particularly associated with the Panturque, even Touranist current, evidenced by the many associations of which it was part, the articles it published, its adhesion to the Turkish nationalist movement, and its ambiguous vision of the Armenians.

In his novels, Halide Edip Adıvar has greatly defended Panturquism. Born at XIX ^{It is} century, this ideology is popularized by certain young Turks currents at the start of XX ^{It is} century, greatly influencing the young author. The objective is to call for the Union of Turkish -speaking peoples within the same nation. In his book New Turan (Tr) , published in 1912, Adıvar goes even further and calls for the unification of Turkish peoples in Central Asia, Siberia and Caucasus in an Empire led by Turkey: it is Touranism.

However, his ideological inconstancy will be reproached for him a lot. Indeed, it remains strongly influenced by the West: its adhesion to W. Wilson’s ideas at the end of the First World War ^{[ 18 ]} Then its exile in Europe and in the United States are the symbols. For many detractors, this would have prevented him from offering sustainable and credible solutions to support a Panturque project.

Feminism [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

In the writings of Halide Edip Adıvar, the heroes are very often women – nationalists, idealists, mass educators, modern and modernized, strong, which stand against oppression. If she denies any autobiographical resemblance, she recognizes the influence of her personal experiences in each of her female characters, however ^{[ 20 ]} .

For example, in his first novel, Level aspire , she tells the story of a woman having the courage to leave her husband; In Rue de l’Épicerie aux flies , she describes the fight of Rabia, the daughter of a fairground animator of popular shows, who opposes the traditionalism of her grandfather, which can echo her own life.

On the contrary, it is criticized for its male heroes, often portrayed as obstacles to the fighting of female heroes ^{[ 18 ]} .

Moreover, the nationalist idea of ​​the author cannot be dissociated from the idea that it has the place of women in Turkish society. Indeed, she puts at the center of her reflection the role of family and women as contributors to the formation of the Republic – evidenced by her speech at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi in 1935. For Halide Edip Adıvar , women are agents of nationalism in the same way as men ^{[ 19 ]} .

According to Elif Gözdaşoğlu Küçükalioğlu, doctoral student of the University of Bilkent of Istanbul, who worked on the link between nationalism and gender in Turkey, many novels of that time – including those of Halide Edip Adivar – depict women as Having a double position in the process of creating Turkish national identity: they would be both subject and the object of change ^{[ 21 ]} .

On the one hand, they are socially and politically involved in nationalist issues. By their education and their visibility in public spaces, they represent modern subjects having a role to play in the formation of Turkish collective identity.

On the other hand, it is expected from them that they comply with moral values ​​and collective traditions – especially with regard to sexual identity. An “ideal woman”, in the nationalist sense of the term, is an asexual woman, capable of covering her sexual identity to be the equal of the man.

In fact, only women who kill themselves in their work while being socially active, educated (including in terms of sexual intercourse) and who leave their femininity aside can be assimilated to “mothers of the nation”. They are seen as the ideal-type of the nationalist woman. In this regard, Beyond , of Halide Edip Adıvar, published in 1912, is rather revealing. Handan is a very educated and politicized young woman. She is married, but she falls in love with her cousin, REFIK CEMAL. He too experiences feelings for her, but he is promised to another woman, not very educated. The gap between the two women is a flagship theme of the novel, Réfik often recalling the importance of education for women and the role they can play in society. Despite the fact that her husband deceives her several times, Handan remains faithful to her throughout the novel before dying of meningitis. Here, the main elements are therefore present, from the importance of education for women to their chastity through the forgetting of what make them women.

The Venusian crater Adivar was appointed in his honor ^{[ 22 ]} .

His adventurous life for the Turkish nationalist movement inspired a character from Adventures of the young Indiana Jones , interpreted by Zuhal Olcay ^{[ 23 ] , [ 24 ]} . Several of his novels have given rise to films ^{[ 25 ]} .

• Level aspire (1910).
• New Turan (1912).
• Beyond (1912).
• PRESENTATION PROVISIONS (1918).
• Last work (1919).
• Ordeal (1922).
• The arranged course (1922).
• Heart pain (1924).
• Shoot (1926).
• The Memoirs of Halide Edib , New York-London, The Century, 1926 (published in English).
• The Turkish Ordeal , New York-London, The Century, 1928 (Memory, published in English).
• Zeyno’s son (1928).
• Turkey Faces West , New Haven-London, Yale University Press/Oxford University Press, 1930.
• The Clown and His Daughter (English title, published in 1935 and, in Turkish, Grocery store in 1936; translated into French in 1944 under the title Rue de l’Épicerie aux flies ).
• TURKISH FIRE (Memory, published in 1962; translation in English: House with Wisteria ).

• What is it about ? , Turkish text accompanied by a French translation by Solange Roux, Paris, Editions E. de Boccard, 1939.
• Rue de l’Épicerie aux flies , translated from the original edition by Stella Corbin, Turkish Grand Prix of the novel, İstanbul, P.M. editions, 1944.
• Smyrne’s daughter , Algiers, AFKAR editions, impr. Koechlin, 1948.

Notes [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

References [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Bibliography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

• Bahriye Çeri, «Adivar, Halide Edip [Istanbul 1884 – id. 1964] » , in Béatrice Didier, Antoinette Fouque and Mireille Calle-Gruber (dir.), The universal dictionary of creators , Editions of women, two thousand and thirteen , p. 48-49 .
• Guzine Dino, «  The Turkish novel yesterday and today », The world , 19 mars 1971 ( read online ) .
• (in) Sibel Erol, « Introduction » , in Halide Edip Adivar, House with Wisteria: Memoirs of Turkey Old and New , Transaction Publishers, 2011 ( read online ) , p. 7- 36 .
• (in) Grace M. Ellison et Edward Granville, An Englishwoman in a Turkish Harem , Methuen, 1915 ( read online ) .
• (in) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature , Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature 1994 , Washington, International Astronomical Union, United States Government Printing Office, 1995 , 295 p. ( read online ) , p. twelfth
• (in) Kaya Young, ‘ Halide Edip Adıvar’s “Inside India” to be published in Turkish for the first time » , Daily Sabah , July 21, 2014 ( read online ) .
• Nilüfer Göle, Muslim and modern. Sailing and civilization in Türkiye , Discovery, two thousand and thirteen , 465 p. ( read online ) .
• Ahmet Island, ” In the name of humanity, this conduct was a crime. An analysis of the request for forgiveness to the Armenians », Mind , n ^O 6, June 2000 , p. 83-93 (DOI  10.3917/Espri.1006.0083. , read online ) .
• (in) Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers : M-Z. 2 , vol.  2, ABC-CLIO, 2001 , 478 p. ( read online ) , « Edip, Halide (known as Halide Salih from 101 to 1910 ; also Halide Adivar) (1883-1964) Turkey » , p. 217-218 .
• (in) Roberta Micallef, « Turkish Women Write War » , in Annika Rabo and Bo Utas (dir.), The Role of the State in West Asia , Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, 2005 , 194 p. ( read online ) , p. 25-36 .
• (Tr) Kemal Ozturk, Halide , Timaş, 2009 , 200 p. .

The context

• (in) N. B. Criss, Istanbul Under Allied Occupation, 1918-1923 , BRILL, 1999 (ISBN  90-04-11259-6 , read online ) .
• Yves Ternon, Ottoman Empire. Decline, fall, erasure , Kiron/Félin, 2002 , 575 p. .

Webography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Related articles [ modifier | Modifier and code ]