Bahriye Üçok (1919 - October 6, 1990) was a female Turkish academic of theology, left-wing politician, writer, columnist and women's rights activist, whose assassination in 1990, remains unresolved.
Contents |
Born in Trabzon, Bahriye Üçok finished her primary education in Ordu and then graduated from Kandilli High School for Girls in Istanbul. She was educated in Medieval Islamic and Turkish History at the Faculty of Philology, History and Geography of Ankara University. At the same time, she attended the State Conservatory and completed the Opera section.
After eleven years, she worked as a high school teacher in Samsun and Ankara, she entered 1953 Ankara University as an assistant in the Faculty of Theology,. She obtained her PhD in 1957, and became 1965 an associate professor with her thesis on "Female rulers in Islamic countries" and finally professor, being the ever first female university teacher in this faculty. Being fluent in Arabic and Persian, she interpreted the Qur'an in a modern, realistic and tolerant way. She quit her post following increasing threats and her feeling of unsafe after 1960.
In 1971, she was elected contingency senator, and so her political career started. Bahriye Üçok joined 1977 the center-left Republican People's Party (CHP). After the military coup in 1980, she co-founded the "Populist Party" (Halkçı Parti) and was elected 1983 deputy of Ordu into the parliament. In 1986, she switched over to Social Democratic People's Party (SHP).
She also wrote her opinions in her column in the newspaper Cumhuriyet. After a TV forum, at which she declared that covered dressing in Islam (Hijab) is not obligatory, Bahriye Üçok received increasingly threads from the militant organization "Islamic Movement" (Turkish: İslami Hareket). Not a long time later, on October 6, 1990, she was killed by a parcel bomb looking like a book package as she was trying to open it up in front of her house door. The assassination remained unsolved.
The "parcel-girl" Gülay Calap, who accepts the packet for delivery, had disappeared for a long period after the assassination. On January 16, 1994 she was arrested in İzmir as the İzmir responsible of "Türkiye Devrimci Halk Partisi" (Revolutionist Peoples Party of Turkey) which is a sub organization of PKK. The court sentenced her to prison for 22 years and 6 months. Parcel-girl stayed in Prison for 12 years and joined DTP in 2007. In November 2007, Calap became the vice president of DTP. (http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/7755554.asp?gid=180&sz=3005)