[2] Her father was Kabaağaçlı Şakir Paşa and mother Giritli Sare İsmail Hanım.

[3] Her sister was the artist Fehrelnissa Zeid and her brother was the author Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı.

Berger originally studied painting and piano lessons while attending the Lycée Notre Dame de Sion.

[1] Berger then followed her sister to London, where she began to study engraving and sculpture, mentored by the artist John Buckland-Wright.

Her oil painting "Güneşin Doğuşu" ("Sun Rising") won an international competition in 1954, and she took second prize at the 2nd Tehran Biennial the following year.