Safiye Soyman

Safiye Soyman — Biography

Safiye Soyman is a Turkish singer born on 3 March 1961 in the Akpınar neighbourhood of Bolu. The daughter of a hafız, she was married at the age of thirteen to Ziya Akaröz in an arranged marriage and had a daughter and a son from that union. Studying in secret from her husband, she completed middle school and later high school through external exams, took typing courses and found work as a secretary at the Ministry of Housing and Settlement.

She took music lessons from Özer Altın, passed the radio examinations and spent six years with the Ankara State Classical Turkish Music Choir. In 1996, after an offer from the famed nightclub owner Fahrettin Aslan, she took the stage at the Maksim Gazinosu, then resigned from the civil service to pursue music professionally. Albums such as Hesabım Var, Söz Veriyorum, Sevenler Gece Ağlar and Hani Gittin Ya brought her wide recognition, and in 2010 she released an album of religious hymns.

Soyman has also been a familiar face on television, appearing in the programme Dünya Güzellerim in 2017 and its later editions. Since 2000 she has lived with businessman Faik Öztürk, with whom she has also recorded duets. Her son Harun died in 2024.