ISTANBUL - Professor Turkan Saylan, president of the Association for Support of Contemporary Living (CYDD), passed away on Monday at the age of 74.
Saylan was receiving cancer treatment at the Istanbul University Hospital.
Born in Istanbul in 1935, Saylan graduated from Istanbul University School of Medicine in 1963 and specialized in Venereal Diseases and Dermatology. She was appointed Associate Professor in 1972 and Professor in 1977 at Istanbul University from where she retired in December 2002.
Prof. Dr. Saylan concentrated her work on leprosy in 1976 and founded the Society for the Struggle Against Leprosy (SSAL) the same year. She also initiated the establishment of the Foundation for the Struggle Against Leprosy (FSAL) in 1976. She was also a founding member of the International Leprosy Union (ILU).
Saylan earned an internationally reputation for her wide ranging medical, educational and social work on leprosy. In 1986 she received the International Gandhi Prize, presented to her in India.
In 1989, Professor Saylan founded the CYDD in Istanbul together with a group of colleagues. She had been the president of CYDD since its establishment. She was appointed a member of the Higher Education Council of Turkey, by the president, between the years 2001 and 2007.
Professor Saylan had numerous articles published both in English and in Turkish in the fields of medicine, education and problems of women. She had six books published in Turkey including her autobiographical book "The Sun Rises Now Out of Hope" and "Being a Doctor".
She had two sons and two grandchildren.
The CYDD became one of the largest and most progressive non-governmental organizations in Turkey after its foundation. Based in Istanbul, the association has 96 branches throughout Turkey and an independent affiliate in Germany, which provided the initial funding for the education of girls project. The ASCL has more than 20 thousand members who volunteer to work in the projects designed by their own intellectual and material contribution.
The CYDD is involved in many educational projects including building schools, dormitories, rehabilitation and cultural centers, publication and donation of books, donation of musical instruments, organization of panels and conferences and providing scholarships to students at all levels. The number of only the primary and secondary education students who receive scholarships exceeded 16 thousand.