Melahat Senger-Ruacan, who lived from 1906 to 1974, was a Turkish judge born in Istanbul during the Ottoman Empire, recognized as the first woman elected to any supreme court in the world. She graduated from Ankara University's Law School in 1929 as its first female graduate with high honors, and in 1945 was appointed the first female member of the Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals. Over her career she handled major cases and advocated for women's rights while supporting Kemalist ideology; during the politically turbulent Democrat Party administration of 1950 to 1960 she was forced into retirement but successfully challenged the decision in court and was reinstated in 1963 with full honors and back pay. She died of a heart attack in Ankara in 1974.
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