Merve Kavakcı
Merve Safa Kavakcı | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Kavakcı in 2022 | |
| Born | 19 August 1968 |
| Nationality | Turkey, United States |
| Education | M.Sc. from Harvard University PhD from Howard University |
| Occupation | Professor, ambassador |
| Employer(s) | Üsküdar University George Washington University Howard University Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Turkey) |
| Political party | Virtue Party (1998–2001) |
| Parent |
|
| Website | http://www.mervekavakci.net |
Merve Safa Kavakcı (born 19 August 1968) is a Turkish politician, who was elected as a Virtue Party (Turkish: Fazilet Partisi) deputy for Istanbul on 18 April 1999. She served as the Turkish ambassador to Malaysia from 2017, and was recalled to Ankara following the appointment of Emir Salim Yüksel as the Turkish Ambassador to Malaysia in June 2022.[1][2][3][4]
Life and career
Kavakcı was born on 19 August 1968, to Imam Yusuf Ziya Kavakçı in Ankara, Turkey. She has paternal Georgian descent.[5]
On 2 May 1999, Kavakcı was precluded from taking her oath in the swear-in ceremony by members of the Democratic Left Party (Turkish: Demokratik Sol Parti) due to her headscarf. She failed to disclose her American citizenship, which was revealed after the elections, and she lost her seat in the parliament in March 2001. The Virtue Party was closed down by the Constitutional Court in June 2001.
In 2007, Kavakcı won the legal case when the European Court of Human Rights found that Kavakcı's expulsion from parliament was a violation of human rights.[6] Since then, Kavakcı has been an outspoken critic of Turkey's secular political system, traveling the globe in support of Muslim women's rights, especially to the hijab. In addition to lecturing at universities throughout Europe and the United States, Kavakcı addressed the 2004 Parliament of the World's Religions in Barcelona. Kavakcı also addressed British Parliament House of Lords in London, England. She has lectured and spoke at myriad American and European Universities including Harvard, Yale, Berlin, Hamburg, Hannover, Duisburg and Cambridge Universities.
Like her father, Kavakcı is a hafiza, one who has committed the entirety of the Quran to memory. She received her master's degree from Harvard University and her PhD from Howard University. Kavakcı is currently a professor at George Washington University and Howard University in Washington D.C. She has two children, Fatima Abushanab and Mariam Kavakcı.[7]
Kavakcı is recognized among the World's Most Influential 500 Muslims. She was recognized among "Women of Excellence" by NAACP and GWU in 2004. She was awarded the Public Service Award in Tribute and in Recognition of efforts for the advancement of human rights and Muslim Women's empowerment by International Association for Women and Children in 2000. She was awarded Service to Humanity Award by Haus Der Kulturellen Aktivität und Toleranz in Vienna, Austria in 1999. She was granted Mother of the Year Award by Capital Platform of Ankara and National Youth Organization in 1999.
Kavakcı is a consultant for the U.S. Congress on the Muslim world and a columnist for the Turkish conservative daily Vakit newspaper and is at the Editorial Board of the Mediterranean Quarterly. Besides, she is the author of six books and numerous articles.
In 2012, a book about Kavakcı titled The Day Turkey Stood Still: Merve Kavakci's Walk Into the Parliament by Richard Peres was published.[8][9]
References
- ^ Turkish Embassy in Kuala Lumpur
- ^ New Turkish envoy to Malaysia defied hijab ban in 1999
- ^ Turkey's first hijabi deputy is the new ambassador to Malaysia
- ^ "Turkey appoints new ambassadors to 25 countries". Hurriyet Daily News. Retrieved 2022-06-02.
- ^ Kavakçı, Yusuf Ziya (2015-12-24). "Ömer Nasuhi Bilmen'in güldüğünü bir kere gördüm" (Interview). Interviewed by Demet Tezcan. dunyabizim.com. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
- ^ "Headscarf deputy stripped of Turkish citizenship". BBC News. 1999-05-15. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
- ^ "Live dialogue: Guest CV". Islamonline.net. Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2008-11-02.
- ^ The Day Turkey Stood Still, Merve Kavakci’s Walk into the Turkish Parliament, Richard Peres, Ithaca Press, 2012 Archived 2013-01-19 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Headscarf Politics in Turkey: A Postcolonial Reading Merve Kavakci-Islam, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010
External links
- Official site (in English, Turkish, and Arabic)
- Webarchive template wayback links
- Articles with short description
- Pages using infobox person with multiple employers
- Articles with hCards
- Articles with Turkish-language sources (tr)
- Articles with Arabic-language sources (ar)
- AC with 0 elements
- 1968 births
- Living people
- People from Ankara
- Turkish people of Georgian descent
- Turkish Sunni Muslims
- Virtue Party politicians
- Deputies of Istanbul
- Turkish emigrants to the United States
- American Sunni Muslims
- Ambassadors of Turkey to Malaysia
- University of Texas at Dallas alumni
- Harvard University alumni
- George Washington University faculty
- Islam-related controversies
- Howard University faculty
- Hijab
- 21st-century Turkish women politicians
- 21st-century Turkish politicians