Araksi Chetinyan

Turkish Republic's first beauty queens chosen amid tense debate

Saturday, October 30, 2010 VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey's first beauty contests took place among heated debates as the general public thought it immoral to hold events showcasing women so openly, according to a researcher on the subject. The first title went to Araksi Çetinyan, an Armenian Turk, in 1925, while Keriman Halis won both the Turkish and international titles in 1932.

The reformers of the early Turkish republican era directed their attention toward improving the visibility of women in public space as part of its modernization drive, as evidenced most clearly by their promotion of beauty contests.

While rarely viewed as a triumph for gender equality in today’s world, the contests of the 1920s and 1930s were devoid of the catwalks and bikinis of contemporary Miss World pageants, researcher Feza Kürkçüoğlu, who is currently conducting a study on the subject, recently told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.

To participate, it was enough for single women between the ages of 15 and 25 to send an ordinary, 9-by-11-centimeter picture of their face, she said.

The beauty contests, which were organized on some occasions by the daily Cumhuriyet in the early years, were highly controversial at the beginning, said Kürkçüoğlu, who added that they were seen as immoral by the larger public.

“The [newspaper’s] founder and chief columnist Yunus Nadi had to deal with all the critisism. He anwsered them in his colunms. He would say the beauty contests were no different than football matches, the only difference being that women were more beautiful than sportsmen. But the debates continued to heat up,” Kürkçüoğlu said.

“The winners of the contest were not awarded with any present. In order to encourage people’s participation [and counter the negative perception of the events], awards would be given to the voters. A person that picked the winner received 50 Turkish Liras, another who voted for the second one got 25 liras. Five readers received a Cumhuriyet subscription for three months,” she said.

The actual jury, meanwhile, was composed of painters, writers and journalists, according to Kürkçüoğlu.

The winners however got the right to represent Turkey in beauty contests abroad. “The only aim was to promote Turkey abroad,” said Kürkçüoğlu.

Chance to showcase Turkey to the world

One of the first pageants occurred in 1925 and was won by Armenian-Turk Araksi Çetinyan at a contest in Istanbul’s iconic Beyoğlu Emek theater.

“Despite the establishment of the Republic, the approach based on seeing everyone as an Ottoman subject was maintained. It was not her Armenian identity but her Ottoman identity that was more important. That’s why there was no problem in giving Çetinyan the right to represent Turkey,” said Kürkçüoğlu.

Another contest took place in 1929 at the call of modern Turkish founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Organized again by Cumhuriyet, the pangeant attracted 125 applications from hopeful women.

Çetinyan again entered, but finished third, behind winner Feriha Tevfik and Semine Nihat.

There is no information about Çetinyan after her beauty pageant success.

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