Zehra Önay Alpago (born May 18, 1947) is a Turkish female jurist, politician, former government minister and academic.

Private life

Zehra Önay Alpago was born in

Karadeniz Ereğli Karadeniz Ereğli (or Ereğli) is a city in Zonguldak Province of Turkey on the Black Sea shore. It is the seat of Ereğli District.

Zonguldak Province Zonguldak Province () is a province along the western Black Sea coast region of Turkey. Its area is 3,342 km2, and its population is 588,510 (2022). Its adjacent provinces are Düzce to the southwest, Bolu to the south, Karabük to the sou ...

, northwestern Turkey in 1947. She graduated from

Ankara University, Law School The Ankara University, Law School ( formerly known ''Ankara Adliye Hukuk Mektebi'' or ''AUHF'') is the faculty of law at Ankara University in Turkey. History Ankara University, Law School was established as part of Turkey's legal reforms, spe ...

in 1969. After having left the politics, she has been working as a lawyer and serving as an

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

Yeditepe University Yeditepe University () is a private non-profit university situated in Istanbul, Turkey. Established by the Istanbul Education and Culture Foundation ('', İSTEK Vakfı'') in 1996, Yeditepe University now claims to be the largest of the 74 priva ...

. As of end 2010, Alpago was elected into the

Union of Turkish Bar Associations The Turkish Bars Association (correctly, the Union of Turkish Bar Associations) or ''Türkiye Barolar Birliği'' (TBB) has been established in 1969 and is an organisation for Turkish lawyers, uniting over 70,000 lawyers in 79 Turkish bar associat ...

as a delegate of Bar of Istanbul. She is married to physician Yıldırım Alpago. She is mother of two.

Politics

Alpago entered politics from the 1983-established Social Democratic Populist Party (SHP), and served two terms as the first ever chairwoman of the party's district branch. She later became a member of the central executive board and vice chairperson of the SHP. Alpago was appointed from outside the parliament

Minister of State Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior minister ...

responsible for "women, Family and Social Policies" on July 27, 1994, succeeding Türkân Akyol. She served at this post in the 50th government led by female

Prime Minister of Turkey The prime minister of Turkey, officially the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey (), was the head of government of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey from 1920 to 2018, who led a political coalition in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Tu ...

Tansu Çiller Tansu Çiller (; born 24 May 1946) is a Turkish academic, economist, and politician who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Turkey from 1993 to 1996. She was Turkey's first and only female prime minister. As the leader of the True Path Party ...

. On March 27, 1995, she left her post to Aysel Baykal of the

Republican People's Party The Republican People's Party (RPP; , CHP ) is a Kemalism, Kemalist and Social democracy, social democratic political party in Turkey. It is the oldest List of political parties in Turkey, political party in Turkey, founded by Mustafa Kemal ...

(CHP) when the SHP merged with the CHP.

References

Living people 1947 births People from Karadeniz Ereğli Ankara University Faculty of Law alumni Turkish jurists Social Democratic Populist Party (Turkey) politicians Women government ministers of Turkey Government ministers of Turkey Members of the 50th government of Turkey Ministers of state of Turkey Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Turkish women academics Academic staff of Yeditepe University 20th-century Turkish women politicians {{Turkey-politician-stub