Keriman Halis Ece
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Keriman Halis Ece (1913) is a former Turkish beauty contestant, who became Miss Turkey 1932 and Miss World 1932.
She was born 1913 in İstanbul, Turkey as one of the six children of a merchant, Tevfik Halis Bey. Her uncle was a renowned operatta composer Muhlis Sabahattin Ezgi and her aunt a well-known musician and composer Neveser Kökdeş.
She participated 1932 in the Miss Turkey beauty pageant that started only in 1929 and was promoted by the newspaper Cumhuriyet. 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 Miss World contest held in Spa, Belgium to represent Turkey. On July 31, 1932, she was crowned Miss World 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 gave her the family name "Ece", which means "queen" in Turkish language.
