Correspondence of Mustafa Kemal Pasha with his Foster Sister Saime Hanım

Abstract

While Mustafa Kemal Pasha was in Silvan, Diyarbakır, as the Commander of the 16th Corps of the 2nd Army, he received a letter dated July 15, 1916, signed by Your Foster Sister Saime, from Çengelköy, İstanbul. He responded to this letter dated October 26, 1916, beginning with the address My Sister, Lady. In biographical studies on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, there is information that he had a wet nurse named Ümmügül, but there is no information about the existence of his foster sister. However, after the documents belonging to the Archives and Military History Department of the Ministry of National Defense were transferred to the Presidency State Archives, thanks to these letters obtained in the Atatürk Collection, it was revealed that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had a foster sister. Mustafa Kemal Pasha continued his contact with Saime Hanım in the following period. It is understood from another archive document dated April 1923 that he provided financial aid to Saime Hanım. However, no archival documents or sources have been found indicating that Mustafa Kemal and Saime Hanım had direct or indirect contact in the following period. In biographical studies on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the narratives about the first years of his life are mostly based on the stories of his mother Zübeyde Hanım and his sister Makbule Hanım. In this study, by examining the letters in question, an attempt has been made to add a new one to the recent document-based studies on Atatürk’s private and family life.

The Author(s) declare(s) that there is no conflict of interest.