Ioanna Kuçuradi, a leading Turkish philosopher, has died.
Dr. Kuçuradi was known for her work in the fields of human rights, human health, and ethics. She is the author of Human Beings and Their Values (İnsan ve Değerleri), Ethics, (Etik) Looking at Art Through Philosophy (Sanata Felsefeyle Bakmak), and Human Rights: Concepts and Problems, among other works.
Kuçuradi held several significant professional and public roles. Up until her death at age 89, she was president of the Turkish Philosophy Association and Honorary President of the World Federation of Philosophical Societies. She chaired the High Advisory Council for Human Rights of the Prime Ministry of Turkey and the Turkish National Committee of the UN Decade for Human Rights Education, and served on the National Advisory Council for Human Rights of Turkey, the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, and the Turkish National Committee of the UN Decade for Human Rights Education.
Until 2005 she was a faculty member in the Department of Philosophy of Hacettepe University, a department she founded in 1968 and chaired for many years. She also founded the university’s Centre for Research and Application of the Philosophy of Human Rights, and created and directed a similar institute at Maltepe University. She was also a holder of a UNESCO Chair of Philosophy from 1998 to 2005. Prior to joining Hacettepe University, she taught at Atatürk University and Istanbul University, where she had earned her BA and PhD in philosophy.
Ioanna Kuçuradi died on October 2nd, 2026.
