On Monday, Turkey lost one of her most prominent daughters. Dr. Türkan Saylan dedicated her life to the treatment of lepers patients, and the education of girls in under-developed parts of Turkey, where the traditional place of girls is their homes. She was probably the most influential activist, and grassroots organizer. The NGO she founded, "The Society to Support Modern Life," provided scholarships to girls and women throughout their education, as well as organized advertisement and education campaigns to change the traditional position of the women in the Turkish society. All the deaths are tragic, but the deaths of the people who will be remembered by the positive impacts on those who continue to live, are the ones that one should aspire. Her description of a "modern woman" is perhaps the best description of her legacy which I print in Turkish and English: ‘Çağdaş kadın, kendi kararlarını kendisi veren, mutlaka ekonomik bağımsızlığını kazanmış, yani kendi geçi...
