Şule Yüksel Şenler

Şule Yüksel Şenler (May 29, 1938 – August 28, 2019) was a Turkish writer, journalist, and women's rights activist.[1]

Yüksel Şenler was born in Kayseri, May 29, 1938. She later adopted "Şule" as a first name. When she was young, she emigrated to Istanbul with her family. She left school when in 8th Grade,[2] and started working for an Armenian tailor. This led her to create her own model of a modern headscarf in the future.

She started to work as a journalist at the age of 21. In 1965, she began wearing the hijab. Lawsuits were brought against her due to her articles in Yeni İstiklal newspaper, in which she encouraged women to wear the hijab. She grew up during a time when Turkey pushed secularism, where women had to choose between hijab, or official schooling and professional careers [2]. She traveled around Anatolia and started discussions at conferences, and many of her followers started wearing the headscarf [2]. After some girls started to imitate her head covering style, this type of covering became known as le sulebaşı şu. One conference caught the attention of then-president Cevdet Sunay, who said “Those behind [the increasing number of] covered women on the streets, will be punished". Senler responded in a letter to Cevdet Sunay and was arrested, serving eight months in prison [2]. Şenler wrote for Hür Söz, Yeni İstiklal, and Babıalide Sabah women's pages. After 1980, she wrote for Zaman and Milli Gazete. Şenler's novel Huzur Sokağı ("Peace Street") became a popular TV drama. Despite her advanced age and illness, Şenler continued to occasionally publish articles in newspapers and magazines. She died on 28 August 2019 from a heart attack in Istanbul.[3]