Keriman Halis Ece is a former Turkish

Turkish people

Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

 beauty contestant, pianist and fashion model, who became Miss Turkey

Miss Turkey

Miss Turkey ® is a national beauty pageant for unmarried women in Turkey, who personify beauty with intelligence. The first beauty contest was held on September 2, 1929 with the backing of the government, and the title holder was Feriha Tevfik....

 1932. She was also crowned as the winner at International Pageant of Pulchritude

International Pageant of Pulchritude

The International Pageant of Pulchritude, also known as the "International Beauty Contest" or the "Miss Universe Contest," was a beauty contest that began in 1926 featuring contestants from multiple nations. The last pageant event in the U.S. was held in 1931 although additional "Miss Universe"...

 in Spa

Spa

The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

.

Biography

She was born in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 (now Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

) as one of the six children of a merchant, Tevfik Halis Bey, in 1913. Her uncle was a renowned operatta composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 Muhlis Sabahattin Ezgi and her aunt a well-known musician and composer Neveser Kökdeş. Her brother is one of the former presidents of the Turkish sports club Galatasaray S.K.

Galatasaray S.K.

Galatasaray Spor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club based in Istanbul, most notable for its football section, also known as Galatasaray S.K.. It also fields teams in Athletics, Basketball, Wheelchair basketball, Volleyball, Water polo, Swimming, Rowing, Sailing, Judo, Bridge, Equestrian, Handball,...

, Turgan Ece. She is fluent in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 and Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

.

She participated 1932 in the Miss Turkey beauty pageant that started only in 1929 and was promoted by the newspaper Cumhuriyet

Cumhuriyet

Cumhuriyet is a centre-left Turkish daily newspaper, founded on May 7, 1924 by journalist Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu. Based in Istanbul, it has been situated since October 17, 2005 in Mecidiyeköy. Cumhuriyet was the last newspaper to leave the old press district Cağaloğlu...

. She was elected the most beautiful Turkish woman in the contest held on July 2, 1932 in İstanbul among eight candidates. Keriman Halis was sent then to the International Pageant of Pulchritude

International Pageant of Pulchritude

The International Pageant of Pulchritude, also known as the "International Beauty Contest" or the "Miss Universe Contest," was a beauty contest that began in 1926 featuring contestants from multiple nations. The last pageant event in the U.S. was held in 1931 although additional "Miss Universe"...

 contest held in Spa, Belgium to represent Turkey. On July 31, 1932, she was crowned as the winner among competitors from 27 countries, achieving Turkey’s first title at an international beauty contest after three years only of its existence and less than a decade after the founding of the Republic.
Following the introduction of the surname act on June 21, 1934, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....

 gave her the family name "Ece", which means "queen" in Turkish language

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

.

In 2007 Halis celebrated her 94th birthday.