[1] Her father was Mustafa Nazif, an army officer and her mother was Emine, a homemaker.

She was only four years of age when her father Nafiz fell at Conk Bayırı during the Gallipoli campaign in the World War I.

When her husband was appointed as the Turkish military attaché to Berlin, Germany she studied at Pestalozzi-Fröbel-Haus Institute.

In 1945 towards the end of World War II, the couple decided to return to Turkey.

Müfide İlhan became the mayor of Mersin as the candidate of DP on 3 September 1950 elections,[4] and she created sensation both at home and abroad for being the first ever female mayor of Turkey, at a time when the participation of Turkish women in politics was still considerably low.

For example, it was difficult for her to accept DP government's lift of the ban on Arabic ezan.

She also published a short lived bulletin named Mücadele (English: Struggle).

On 4 April 2015 the municipality of Mersin erected a statue of Müfide İlhan [8]