The first women ' s association in Turkey , the Ottoman Welfare Organization of Women , was founded in 1908 and became partially involved in the Young Turks Movement . Writers and politicians such as Fatma Aliye Topuz , Nezihe Muhiddin and Halide Edip Adıvar also joined the movement . In her novels , Halide Edip Adıvar criticised the low social status of Turkish women and what she saw as the lack of interest of most women in changing their situation .
During the Turkish War of Independence , Kara Fatma a widow proved herself as a successful militia leader .
After the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923 , the feminist movement gradually became part of the Kemalist modernization efforts . Polygamy was banned , divorce and inheritance rights were made equal .
In the 1930s , Turkey gave full political rights to women , including the right to elect and be elected locally ( in 1930 ) and nationwide ( in 1934 )
There still remained , however , a large discrepancy between formal rights and the social position of women . In the 1980s , women ' s movements became more independent of the efforts to modify the state . After the 1980 Turkish coup d ' état , women from both urban and academic milieus began to meet in reading groups and discuss feminist literature together .