“Of course you know her career during these pre-war days and possibly also during the war. She managed always to be a little ahead of her sisters, the other Turkish women who were clamouring for the emancipation of their sex. She was the first one who gradually and almost imperceptibly lifted the veil of her contemporaries, she was the first Turkish woman who engaged in newspaper polemics and addressed public meetings. Even in those days she was a leader but she had not yet come into her own. It took the national épopée of Anatolia to bring out in Her all the mature attributes of a really great woman, a leader among leaders, a practical and rational woman of action even though extremely advanced.
“She was, I think, the first woman to come to Angora. Communication with Constantinople being then interrupted she had to cross in carriage, on foot or on horseback the mountains of Anatolia. The hardships she went through would make the subject of a long novel. During nearly four weeks—the time it took her to reach Angora—not once did she find a decent bed to rest in, and even her husband, Adnan Bey, was exhausted when they arrived here. But it did not take her long to recover and within a short time she was engaged body and soul in organizing educational campaigns throughout Anatolia and in teaching the peasant women all the different ways in which they could be useful to their country.
“At the first vacancy in the National Assembly she became a candidate and went personally before her constituency. She was, of course, elected by an overwhelming majority and of course she distinguished herself in her parliamentary work. In fact she criticised so well the educational system then in vogue and offered such excellent constructive suggestions that her colleagues of the National Assembly elected her Secretary of Public Education in the Cabinet.
“She was successfully holding this position when the enemy started his spring drive and the Commander-in-Chief issued a proclamation calling under the colours all persons who could hold a gun. She immediately took advantage of this to establish once more the equal rights of women: on the plea that, being a huntress she not only could hold a gun but also knew how to use it, she enrolled in the army and won the grade of non-commissioned officer for bravery on the field, at the battle of Sakaria. After the successful repulse of the enemy and when the armies were disbanded for the winter she returned to Angora where she is now completing and perfecting the organization of Turkish women for educational, racial and hygienic betterment.
“Halidé Edib Hanoum lives in a little cottage, a farm, situated at about one hour's ride from the village and which is reached through a long, dusty road. Nestled within a bouquet of trees and at a short distance from a clear little stream which sings its way through rocks and flowers, stands the rustic cottage of Halidé Hanoum. It has a nice little orchard and, further back behind the trees is a pasture where she keeps a few cows. It is an ideal place for this loving and beloved woman leader, for here she can withdraw—when she finds time from her various occupations—and ride or hunt or else write, according to her whim of the moment.
“The house is furnished scrupulously in Turkish style—the Turkish style of villages: no rich embroideries and beautiful hangings, but simple divans lined up against the whitewashed walls, one or two carpets, and a copper 'brazero' in the living-room and of course books, a large collection of books in every language—English, French and German which she speaks remarkably well—and a few hunting guns.
“The last time I saw her she was returning from a ride on horseback as I entered the gate. And I cannot say which of the two pictures is most striking: that of a young girl in a rowboat on the Sweet Waters of Asia, or that of a woman, slim and athletic, gracefully riding astride a beautiful horse, her uncovered face proudly erect and her features, now more mature, proclaiming the mind and the will of a leader!
“She asked me to tea, and in her simple little drawing-room we sat with her husband and listened. She talked to us of her aspirations and hopes—not social aspirations, to which all young and attractive women are entitled, but the aspirations and hopes of seeing one day soon the Turkish women, her sisters, recognised as the most progressive and advanced women of the world and pointed out, even in foreign countries, as the models of true womanhood.”