Sociologist, academist, politician and the last leader of Turkish
Laborers’ Party (Born 1 May 1910, Bursa – Death 7 October 1987, Brussels/ Belgium).
She completed her secondary education
in
She was not accepted to university with the excuse: “There is no
empty position”. She even accepted to be within the cadre of servants but was
refused with the reason “There is no empty position among servants, either”.
She applied to the Minister of National Education of the period, Hasan Âli
Yücel, and was appointed associate professor. In the same time she joined the
publication activities of “Yurt ve Dünya”
and “Adımlar” magazines. Meanwhile
the dean of DTCF Prof. Enver Ziya Karal gave a report to Ministry of National
Education on Assoc. Prof. Behice Boran, Assoc. Prof. Pertev Naili Boratav and
Assoc. Prof. Mediha Berkes. According to this report the mentioned associate
professors promised articles to “a
magazine which is published in
After these writings, on the 15th of December 1945, some academic members – among them Behice Boran – were discharged from active education and subordinated to Ministry. Upon this, these people applied to Council of State which canceled the decision of discharge by common consent. When these three academic members who were accused of being communists returned to university, some incidents happened. Upon some nationalist reactions an investigation was launched about Pertev Naili Boratav, Behice Boran, Niyazi Berkes and Muzaffer Şerif Başoğlu. The mentioned academic members were put on trial. Boran and Berkes were condemned because of malpractice, but this decision was abolished by the Court of Appeal. Nevertheless according to the proposal discussed on the 5th of July 1948 in TBMM these academic members were removed from the academic cadre which made Behice Boran leave academy.
Boran later published
with Niyazi Berkes, Adnan Cemgil and Pertev Naili Boratav “Yurt ve Dünya” magazine. Then she left here and started to publish
with Muzaffer Şerif Başoğlu “Adımlar”
magazine. Meanwhile she married the translator Nevzat Hatko. Within two years
she established Turkish Association of Pacifists and became the head of it.
Because of a declaration she published during the Korean War, she was condemned
to 15 months imprisonment. During her conviction she gave birth to her son
Dursun (1951). Boran remained arrested in 1953 for a case related to TKP. In 1962
she became a member of Turkish Laborers’ Party (TİP) which was established
after the military coup of 27 May, was elected a parliament member from Urfa in
general elections of 1965 and entered the parliament (1965-69). She represented
She took a contrary attitude after they came in disagreement with Mehmet
Aybar within TİP about the Soviet invasion of
Behice Boran was in the middle of certain efforts abroad, however
she could not avoid TİP’s division and dismantle. She took part in activities
of uniting Turkish Communists’ Party (TKP) and TİP abroad. She died in
Behice Boran who also wrote poems and who realized one of the first
field studies in
WORKS:
SOCIOLOGY: Toplumsal Yapı Araştırmaları (1945), Türkiye ve Sosyalizm Sorunları (1968), Savunma (Türkiye Sosyalist Hareketi Tarih Dizisi / Belgeler, İstanbul 1992).
TRANSLATIONS: Devlet Adamı (From Plato, 1944), Harley - Voysey Mirası (From Granville-Barker, 1946), Sardalye Sokağı (From John Steinbeck, 1964), Hürriyet Yolu (From Howard Melvin Fast’ 1966)