Aunt Roza, my mother's sister, was born in 1916 in Bursa, Turkey, to Kadem and Salamon Benardete. She had three brothers (Mair, Nisim and Yosef) and four sisters (Sara, Vito, Korin and Inez). She was the firstborn in the family.

Aunt Roza married circa 1932, with Vitali (Halifa) Arav. After the wedding, she left Bursa and moved to Ankara. They had a daughter (Leyla-Lily) and a son (Eliya).

In 1934, Aunt Roza and Uncle Vitali received a new surname: Safkan (a word in Turkish).

New family name in Turkish: In 1934, Turkey issued the "Surnames Law". According to this law, all families had to get a family name in the Turkish language. Consequently, Jewish families too had to accept new family names, in Turkish. The new family name that Uncle Vitali's family received was SAFKAN.

Year: ~1963 

Roza Safkan (on the right side),
Sara Aglamaz (on the left side) and Yashar Behar

Aunt Roza with Nisim, Mair, Yosef

and Yakup Benardete (Year: 1972)

Aunt Roza widowed in 1990.

She passed away on November 17, 1992, in Yalova, Turkey.

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