Ayla Halit Kazım

She was the first female member of the House of Representatives of Cyprus, serving briefly in the legislature in 1963.

[2] Shemshedin became the Turkish mayor of Paphos, and in 1960 was elected to the House of Representatives.

[2] Following the 1974 coup and Turkish invasion, Kazım moved to what became Northern Cyprus, settling in Güzelyurt.

She subsequently became a member of the Community Assembly of the Autonomous Turkish Cypriot Administration.

[2] In 2006 she won a court case entitling her to compensation from the Cypriot government, which had expropriated land she owned in Mandria.