Duygu Asena, a renowned Turkish journalist and writer who devoted much of her work to promoting women’s rights, has died at the age of 60 after battling a brain tumour for the past two years, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Asena passed away in an Istanbul hospital early on Sunday where she had been admitted three days ago with complaints of high fever and breathing difficulties, the agency said.
After starting her journalism career in 1972 at the mass-selling Hurriyet newspaper, Asena went on to work for several other nation-wide dailies and was the editor-in-chief for a number of weekly women’s magazines.
She won acclaim — and much criticism — with her first novel Kadinin Adi Yok (Woman Has No Name) in 1987, which dealt with gender inequality and women’s sexuality in a male-dominated society.
The book, which went on to become a bestseller and was made into a movie, was banned by authorities in 1998 on the grounds that it contained obscene material. The ban was lifted after a two-year legal battle by Asena.
Asena also wrote several other books in which she called on women to work for equal rights and win their economic independence in order to be free. — AFP
