Saadet Özkan

Saadet Özkan is a former primary school teacher and a gender activist who has become a champion for victims child abuse. Born in 1978 in Izmir, Ms. Özkan received undergraduate degrees in Public Relations and Communications from Anadolu University in Eskisehir in 1995, followed by a teaching degree in 2004. She deliberately chose to work in a village school, believing she could make a difference that way. After uncovering a decades-long pattern of sexual abuse in the school, she forced a criminal investigation of her principal, then persevered against pressure to drop the case. When a serious car accident left her bed-ridden for several months, she organized support from the Izmir Bar Association and the Turkish Confederation of Women’s Associations to help carry the case forward. She is now a private consultant still supporting the victims and their case, and hopes to establish an NGO that will fight child abuse. Ozkan is married with one son.