World | Other World Stories
Turkish doctor who headed fight against leprosy, illiteracy dies
Colleagues say Turkan Saylan, a doctor who battled leprosy in Turkey and founded a secularist association devoted to providing educational grants for poor children, has died. She was 74.
- AP
- Published: 11:14 May 18, 2009
Ankara: Colleagues say Turkan Saylan, a doctor who battled leprosy in Turkey and founded a secularist association devoted to providing educational grants for poor children, has died. She was 74.
The Association to Support Contemporary Life says Saylan died in a hospital in Istanbul early on Monday after a long battle with cancer.
Saylan founded the group in 1989. Since then it has provided grants to thousands of poor students, especially girls, and built schools in Turkey's impoverished regions.
Last month, police investigating an alleged secularist plot to topple the Islamic-rooted government searched the group's premises and detained several members for questioning.
More from Other World Stories
More from World
News Editor's choice
-
Allies quit ruling coalition in Nepal
Political row could trigger months of street protests and violence
-
Qatar blaze 'started at nursery'
Fire killed 19 including 13 children, at Doha’s main shopping centre
-
Jagan jailed over illegal assets
Andhra Pradesh leader accused of corruption, cheating, conspiracy
