Zehra Bilir

Life

Zehra Bilir was born Eliz Surhantakyan in Arapgir. Armenian newspaper Agos published in Turkey suggests that Zehra Bilir's real Armenian name was Eliza Olchuyan (or Eliza Ölçüyan in Turkish transliteration). Her father Harutyun, went to fight for the Ottoman Empire during the First World War but has never returned. Eliz had two sisters and a brother who her mother couldn't look after on her own. Therefore, her mother married a Turkish man and Eliz always believed that the Turkish man was in fact her real father. Her Turkish father gave her the name Zehra which she believed was her real name during her adolescence. But in an interview on Sabah (newspaper) she says that she changed her name when she was 22 while she was getting married to her second husband. This eventually became the name she is known by. After receiving her primary school education at the local elementary school, she and her family moves to Istanbul in 1927. After working alongside a hatter, she then begins to take musical notation and solfeggio lessons from famed Armenian musician Artaki Candan-Terzian.

She became one of the pioneers of the Gazino (night club) style. Westerners described her as the Edith Piaf of Turkey. She was one of the most famous singers of folk songs from Anatolia, often appearing in traditional garb and dancing with a handkerchief. One of the most popular entertainers, she appeared frequently on the Radio in Istanbul and Izmir.

Zehra Bilir died on June 28, 2007 at the age 94 years in a nursing home. She is buried in Zincirlikuyu Cemetery.