Speakers
Lal Denizli
Mayor of Çeşme
Çeşme Mayor Lâl Denizli became the first female mayor of the district in 2024. She develops Çeşme with infrastructure, education and environmental projects. She supports women's cooperatives with ÇEŞKA, contributes to early diagnosis with cancer screenings. She leads the way for women's economic and social empowerment.
Zarifa Ghafari
Former Mayor of Maidan Shahr
Human Rights Activist
Maidan Shahr Mayor Zarifa Ghafari became the youngest female mayor of Afghanistan in 2018. She develops Maidan Shahr with projects that advocate for women’s rights. She supports women’s economic empowerment with “Assistance and Promotion for Afghan Women” and education and awareness with Peghla FM Radio. She leads women’s social and political upliftment.
Aylin Aslım
Musician, Songwriter
Aylin Aslım is a strong female voice who began her music career in the punk-rock and alternative scene and has incorporated social issues into her art with her words and stance over the years. She draws attention with her albums as well as her activist stance on violence against women, freedoms and human rights. Aslım, who has become an inspiring figure especially among women's movements and youth, has become the voice of those who want to make change possible through culture and art.
Dilek Hanif
Fashion designer
Dilek Hanif is a well-known Turkish fashion designer born in Istanbul in 1962. She started her career in ready-to-wear and founded her own brand in 1990. She turned to haute couture designs in 1997 and became the first Turkish designer to present a collection at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week in 2004. Her designs are inspired by Ottoman, Anatolian and Far Eastern cultures. Famous names such as Jane Fonda and Nicole Richie have worn her designs. She is also a member of the Turkish Fashion Designers Association.
Rola Hallam
Doctor
Human Rights Defender
Dr. Rola Hallam is a British-Syrian doctor, humanitarian leader and TED speaker known for her lifesaving work in war zones. She has pioneered the rebuilding of local healthcare services in Syria in response to the collapse of the healthcare system, and opened the world’s first crowdfunded hospital. Active in organizations such as Lifeline Syria and CanDo, Hallam represents the power of female-led humanitarian aid. Her work has been featured in prestigious publications such as Time and the BBC, and is a symbol of courage and conscience.
Benjamina Karić
Mayor of Novo Sarajevo
She is a Bosnian politician and lawyer born in 1991. She served as the 39th mayor of Sarajevo between 2021 and 2024, and was elected mayor of Novo Sarajevo in 2024. She has a double major in law and history, and at the age of 27, she became the youngest doctor of law in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the first doctor of classical Roman law in the post-war period. Karić, who has more than 50 academic publications, has been a member of the Social Democratic Party since 2009 and served as the party's vice-president since 2019.
Buket Uzuner
Writer
Buket Uzuner is a writer, biologist, and climate activist born in 1955 in Ankara, Turkey. She graduated from the Department of Biology at Hacettepe University and conducted environmental science studies in Norway, the USA, and Finland. Uzuner is known for her novels, short stories, and travel writings, often focusing on themes such as women, nature, and the climate crisis. With her series titled The Nature Quartet, she blended Turkish mythology with ecology, becoming a pioneer in environmental literature. Her works have been translated into more than ten languages and have received both national and international awards.
Selva Demiralp
Economist
Prof. Dr. Selva Demiralp is one of Turkey’s leading economists, specializing in monetary policy, central banking, and macroeconomics. She is a professor of economics at Koç University and began her career at the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States, where she worked on monetary policy decisions. Her academic publications appear in prominent international journals and focus on global financial markets and central bank strategies. Widely followed for her analyses on the Turkish economy, she also serves as a consultant to various international organizations.
Gamze Cizreli
Founder of BigChefs
Gamze Cizreli was born in Ankara in 1968. After graduating from the Department of Industrial Engineering at Middle East Technical University (METU), she decided to chart her own path by choosing entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career. Cizreli, one of the pioneers of the food and beverage sector in Turkey, made her first venture in 1994. Cizreli, who made a big splash with the BigChefs brand she founded in 2007, took her restaurant chain abroad thanks to her visionary approach that combines local cuisine with modern presentation. Today, BigChefs has become a global brand operating in many countries as well as Turkey.