Keriman Halis Ece

Keriman Halis Ece — Biography

Keriman Halis Ece was a pianist, composer and model who became Turkey's first world beauty queen with her victory in Spa, Belgium, in 1932, and is also known as Miss Universe 1932. In the young Republic the win caused great excitement; the press at home and in Europe presented it as a result of the Republic's reforms. She took her surname from Atatürk after the Surname Law, and for the rest of her life she was remembered as a symbol of women's modernization in Turkey.

From an Ubykh family settled in the Manyas region, she grew up in Istanbul in a musical household; her uncle was the operetta composer Muhlis Sabahattin Ezgi and her aunt the composer Neveser Kökdeş. She learned French and the piano from her governess. In 1932, with her family's consent, she entered the pageant organised by the newspaper Cumhuriyet and was chosen Miss Turkey among eight candidates, then won 25 of the 28 jury votes in Spa. Back home she was met by a crowd at Sirkeci Station and received nearly 30,000 telegrams. Atatürk received her at a reception, kissed her on the forehead and said, "I will call you Ece"; in 1934 the surname Ece was formally given to her.

After her title she promoted Turkish produce such as hazelnuts, grapes and figs, set a fashion example for Turkish women, and travelled to Egypt, Paris, Berlin, Chicago and Athens. Unlike other pageant winners she did not pursue a stage or film career; she married twice and had children. She died of heart failure in Istanbul on 28 January 2012 and was buried at Feriköy Cemetery.