Sabiha Sertel was born in Salonica in 1895. Her family belonged to the Dönme community of Salonica. She began her education in Salonica, attending Terakki School, the French School, and the İttihat ve Terakki İdadisi. In her youth, through the Tefeyyüz Cemiyeti, which she co-founded with friends, she took private lessons to develop her knowledge in fields such as law, sociology, logic, and economics. An article she wrote during this period, titled “Kadın in Ottoman Society,” was selected as the best article of the year. In 1913, Sertel moved with her family to Istanbul, and in 1915 she married journalist Zekeriya Sertel. In 1919, to further her education, she traveled to the United States with her husband and studied sociology and social services at the School of Social Work affiliated with Columbia University.

Journalistic Activities and Publishing Work

Sabiha Sertel’s journalism career began while she was still a secondary school student, when she published poems in school magazines. Her first major professional step came in 1919 with the launch of Büyük Mecmua, where she wrote on women’s rights, equality, and social transformation. In 1924, she and her husband began publishing Resimli Ay, where under the pseudonym “Cici Anne” she wrote articles based on letters concerning gender relations, marriage, and social roles. During the same years, she was also involved in publishing activities for magazines such as Sevimli Ay, Resimli Herşey, and Projektör.

Political Stance and Contributions to Women’s Rights

Sertel’s writings focused especially on women’s rights, class struggle, and social equality. In publications such as Resimli Ay and the newspaper Tan, she advocated for women’s active participation in political, social, and economic life. Due to political pressure and censorship conditions of the era, she was prosecuted multiple times, particularly facing arrests in the 1930s and 1940s for criticizing the regime. In her 1936 novel Çitra Roy ve Babası, she explored themes of individual and social freedom. In 1945, she was detained again following an attack on the Tan printing press.

Life Abroad and Final Years

In 1950, amid increasing political pressure, Sabiha Sertel left Türkiye and lived in cities including Paris, Rome, Budapest, Leipzig, Prague, and Moscow. During this period, she worked for various radio stations and assumed responsibilities within the overseas organizations of the Communist Party of Türkiye. In the 1960s, she published memoirs titled İlericilik-Gericilik Kavgasında Tevfik Fikret, Nazım Hikmet’ten ve Sabahattin Ali’den Anılar, and Roman Gibi. She also translated key Marxist classics into Turkish, introducing works by Kautsky, Adoratski, Babel, Lenin, and Stalin to Turkish readers. Sertel died of lung cancer in Baku on 2 September 1968.

Publications and Translations

Books:

• Çitra Roy ve Babası (1936)
• İlericilik-Gericilik Kavgasında Tevfik Fikret (1939, 1965 edition)
• Tevfik Fikret-Mehmet Akif Kavgası (1940)
• Roman Gibi (1969)

Translated Works:

• K. Kautsky, Sınıf Kavgası (1934)
• A. Babel, Kadın ve Sosyalizm (1935)
• V. Adoratski, Diyalektik Materyalizm (1936)
• J. Bryce, Demokrasi Nedir (1939)
• Lenin, Emperyalizm: Kapitalizmin Son Safhası
• Stalin, Leninizmin Problemleri