Europe

Home page

Europe

Outstanding Turkish scientist and public figure Turkan Saylan dies

18 May 2009 09:06 (UTC +04:00)

Istanbul â€“ APA. Chairperson of the Turkish Association for Support of Contemporary Living, outstanding scientist and public figure Turkan Saylan died, APA reports quoting Turkish news agencies. Professor Saylan suffered from lung cancer for a long time and died in the Institute of Oncology of Istanbul University medical faculty at 04.30 local time. Her two sons and the representatives of the association were with her before her death. Saylan will be buried in Zincirlikuyu cemetery in Istanbul on May 20.

Turkan Saylan was born in Istanbul in 1935. She graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of Istanbul University, and later studied in the UK. She died research work in England and France and became professor in 1977. Saylan concentrated her work on Leprosy from 1976 onwards and founded the Society for the Struggle against Leprosy (SSAL) in the same year. In 1986 she received the International Gandhi Prize. For about 30 years till 2006, she was a consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) on Leprosy. She was one of the founders and deputy chairperson of the International Leprosy Union, member of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology. In 1989, Turkan Saylan founded the Association for Support of Contemporary Living (ASCL) in Istanbul together with a group of colleagues. He was awarded a number of prizes in the country and abroad. On April 13, Turkan Saylanâ€™s house and the offices of the association were searched by the police in connection with the Ergenekon.