Suat Derviş was a Turkish novelist, journalist, and political activist, who was among the founders of the Socialist Women’s Association in 1970.
Family and early career
Suat Derviş was born in either 1904 or 1905 in Istanbul. She was born into an aristocratic family. Her father, İsmail Derviş, was a gynecologist, and a professor at the Medical Faculty of Istanbul University. Her mother, Hesna Hanım, was the daughter of a slave girl in the entourage of OttomanSultan Abdülaziz. Suat had one sister, Hamiyet, who received a musical education at several conservatories in Germany. Her parents' relationship was monogamous, and they were described as a reliable family, who were supportive of Suat. As a child, Derviş used to wear a burqa. Derviş received private tutoring in literature, music, French, and German. Between 1919 and 1920 she lived with her sister Hamiyet in Germany, and was a student at the Berlin University. She began to write about Turkey for German magazines, including Berliner Zeitung, and published her first book in 1920, titled Kara Kitap. She would go on to publish ten more novels between 1920 and 1932. Derviş’s early novels examined themes of gender, class, and women's psychology. They also often used an urban setting, which was unusual for the period she was writing in. A reviewer stated that ", who is more objective and modern than Halide Edib , is by no means less profound”. She also worked as a freelance journalist. Among the events she reported on was the Conference of Lausanne, at which the post-World War I fate of Turkey was decided. Her early novels have been referred to as the first gothic novels in the Turkish language.
Return to Turkey
Derviş's father died in 1932, upon which she went back to Turkey. She became a member of several intellectual circles. She had joined Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası, a political party in the Turkish opposition, in 1930. Among other things, the party advocated for giving women the right to vote. At some point in the 1930s she unsuccessfully contested local elections. Her party was eventually banned, and Derviş herself became more influenced by Marxist thinking. She became a writer for Yeni Edebiyat. Derviş continued to work as a freelance journalist; in 1935, she wrote about the Congress of the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship in Istanbul for the daily paperCumhuriyet, and in 1936 wrote about the Montreux Conference. While working for Cumhuriyet, she undertook a project of interviewing twelve international feminists, among whom was Dutch activist Rosa Manus. She traveled to the Soviet Union twice, and wrote a book about her experiences titled Niçin Sovyetler Birliği’nin Dostuyum?. The book was highly controversial in Turkey.
Leftist activism
Derviş had at least three marriages, to Selami İzzet Sedes, Nizamettin Nazif Tepedelenlioğlu, and to Reşad Fuat Baraner. Baraner was the leader of the Turkish Communist Party, which was banned at the time. On March 10, 1944, Derviş and her husband were arrested for "illegal communist activity" along with other members of the party. Derviş was sentenced to eight months in jail. Derviş, had been pregnant during the investigation, but had a miscarriage. Her husband remained in prison until 1950, and was arrested again in 1951. Due to her political views and her arrest, Derviş had difficulty finding a job, and took to using a pseudonym in her published work. Derviş left Turkey in 1953, as a result of continual harassment from the government. Derviş in several countries outside Turkey during the period 1953–1963, mostly in France. She published novels in French during this time. Although well received in France, her work was controversial in Turkey due to her support for women's rights, which was often a matter of debate even among leftist individuals. She lived again with Baraner from 1963 until 1968, when he died. Derviş was among those who founded the Devrimci Kadınlar Birliği, in 1970. The stated aims of the group were to create a revolutionary women’s movement and raise women’s consciousness. At the same time she published Fosforlu Cevriye, which explored the lives of marginalized women in Istanbul. It would prove to be her most popular novel, and was also adapted into a film, as well as a stage production in 2016. Derviş became known for her outspokenness in response to discriminatory statements made about her, once remarking "I am not ashamed of being a woman, and I am proud of being a writer. That title is my sole wealth, my only pride and my bread."
Death and legacy
Derviş died on 23 July 1972. Her legacy became more prominent in the 1990s and 2000s, as more researchers grew interested in it. She was the subject of a biographical book titled Bir Kadın Bir Dönem: Suat Derviş by Jewish-origin Turkish author, Liz Behmoaras.
