Miss Turkey 2021 and the ups and downs of a national institution

Miss Turkey 2021 and the ups and downs of a national institution

A special report by Nick C

I grew up in a time when Miss Turkey was a big deal. And I mean, a really big deal. It was broadcasted on national television, in a prime-time spot, it was hosted by the most famous presenters, and the event was attended by A-list celebrities in evening gowns and tuxedos. The winners graced the pages of national newspapers the next day. Our representatives, chosen that night had many international placements to make us proud.

Julide Ates (Universe and World 1990), Aslihan Koruyan (World 1991), Defne Samyeli (International 1991), Arzum Onan (Europe 1993), Didem Uzel (Europe 1994), Cagla Sikel (World 1997), Yuksel Ak (World 2000), and needless to say Azra Akin (the winner of Miss World 2002), became household names in Turkey. We also had a few near-misses in Miss Universe, like Elif Ilgaz in 1992 and Cagla Kubat in 2002.

Those days are long gone. In time, like in many European countries, in Turkey, beauty pageants lost their popularity as well as a bit of their relevance. But the underlying reasons in European countries and Turkey were completely different. In Europe, the increased salience of discrimination and violence against women made beauty pageants look like they were just a means to objectify women, hindering gender equality.

In Turkey, it was the opposite.

The creeping political Islam started to rot the secular foundations of our Republic, and Miss Turkey has become one of the last fortresses to resist, albeit with fewer sponsors, less exposure, and certainly less funding. Yet, the Miss Turkey pageant (and the organization) survived somehow. I attribute their survival to three factors.

Azra Akin: the today famous actress and media personality was elected Miss World in 2002. After that, Turkey has never placed in Miss World again.

First and foremost, the secular institutions of Turkey held on to the pageant with symbolic importance (representing the modern Turkish woman) in a very polarized society.

Second, while some winners in other countries are known for scandals, Miss Turkey winners used their newfound fame to establish well respected careers. Julide Ates became a well-respected news anchor, Aslihan Koruyan is a popular author and a successful businesswoman, Elif Ilgaz is a celebrity doctor and TV personality, Cagla Sikel became a top model and TV presenter, Azra Akin became an actress. Those careers still inspire young Turkish women, but especially those who want a future in the entertainment industry.

And that brings me to the third and possibly to the most important factor: Turkish TV series. Since 1999, the Turkish series slowly became more and popular around the world. According to Wikipedia, In 2017, Turkish TV exports earned 350 million U.S. dollars, officially marking the country as the second-largest drama exporter in the world behind the United States. And what is a better way to be noticed by producers than winning Miss Turkey?

Since the historical win by Azra Akin in Miss World 2002, almost all Miss Turkey top 3 finishers have found their way to the Turkish TV series. Consequently, Miss Turkey started to attract a certain type of contestant: social media *stars* who want to be actresses. And while beauty pageants were evolving elsewhere during that period, putting more emphasis on beautiful minds over beautiful bodies, Miss Turkey contestants nowadays hardly mention their social responsibility/ beauty with a purpose projects. (I am pretty sure some of them do not have one anyway).

Çağıl Özge Özkul remains the only Turkish delegate to have placed in Miss Universe (Top 16) in the new millennium. She is now a television presenter and sports anchor for beIN SPORTS TR.

Unsurprisingly, we have not achieved a top 20 placement in Miss World since 2002. We have placed only once in the 20th century in Miss Universe, in 2012 (to further support my argument, please remember that Cagil Ozkul, was a student in Turkish Harvard, Middle East Technical University). While Turkey got more and more conservative, it also got more and more corrupt- according to the latest corruption perception index, Turkey ranks 86th among 170 + countries in the world in terms of clean governance. Until last week, however, I never ever imagined that the nationwide corruption could impact the Miss Turkey pageant.

While trying to find the official Instagram page of the Miss Turkey organization, I came across another page called “Miss Turkey Gercekleri” (Miss Turkey facts) which mysteriously disappeared a few days later. What this page exposed was that certain finalists (to be more specific, 3 of them) were being followed in social media by the organizers and this year’s sponsors (Farmasi), while others were not. I do not want to make any unfounded accusations, but I have to admit that this looks pretty bad. If candidate number 1 or number 11 had won, it would have raised a lot of red flags.

This year many of our former international winners were on the jury, and I sincerely hoped that they would not allow corruption to take over the judging process. Otherwise, we may have ended up with a similar outcome to 2019, where the winners were harshly criticized, even cruelly made fun of on social media. Naturally, I do not support (or tolerate) cyber-bullying-- what I am trying to convey here is that unless we restore the public’s faith in the process, Miss Turkey will never attract high-quality contestants that can be internationally competitive.

But how to achieve that? If I was involved, the first thing I would have done is to invite some completely impartial judges (i.e. foreigners) to the panel. There are many academic studies that prove that the presence of “outsiders” makes it difficult for “insiders” to engage in corrupt behavior.

The second thing I would do is to make the evaluation process completely transparent. And finally, to catch up with international counterparts, I would increase the relative impact and share of talent, speaking ability, intelligence, presentation skills, and social engagement in the judging process. And rather than presenting the finalists in swimwear (which is so 80s), I would present them to the world in haute couture designs of Turkish designers.

I used to guess the winner correctly (and the top 3 accurately) when it was managed by Ozcan Sandikcioglu. Since his son, Can Sandikcioglu, took over roughly around 2010/2011, I lost my magic touch. It also seems to me that the junior Mr. Sandikcioglu does not have his father’s magic touch as we have not experienced a top placement (except for Miss Supranational 2013) for a long time.

Nevertheless, here are my favorites for this year: For Miss Turkey World, I would have chosen Number 2, Yesim. She is a lawyer and looking at her social media posts, I see a young woman of substance and depth, who is proud of her occupation and her achievements.

For Miss Turkey Universe, I would have chosen Number 20, Cemrenaz, who is about to graduate as an engineer. And for Miss Supranational, I would have chosen Number 4, Sira, who is also a student of engineering (and an aspiring model, looking at her Instagram).

Despite my fear of being frustrated with the results, I watched the show. It was certainly miles below the production quality I remember from the good old days. To start with, it was not broadcasted on national television, yet over 15k people were watching it on the youtube channel. And while the production was not at par with Miss France, it was not as bad as I thought it would be. Our former queens, and judges Aslihan Koruyan Sabanci, Cagla Sikel, Arzum Onan and Azra Akin, all looked as radiant as ever.

The hosts, husband-wife team of comedian Eser Yenenler and his wife, Miss International Turkey 2015 Berfu were entertaining, and from time to time completely outrageous. I fell from my chair when Eser asked his wife to “leave her in his capable hands while hosting together”, and Berfu responded “every time I do that, we have a baby”.

After swimsuit and cocktail dress presentations, during which I struggled to pinpoint any favorites other than the three girls I mentioned, the hosts announced the top 10 finalists. In addition to my 3 favorites, the 2 “well-connected” girls also advanced, elevating my fears to new heights. Then the two hosts interviewed the 10 girls and that’s when I cringed- and not because of the answers given by the candidates.

The questions asked were so irrelevant, so obsolete, so meaningless, with each question I scratched my head over and over. I guess the organizers are so afraid of losing more sponsors, they refrain from delving deep into controversial issues. On the contrary, girls really impressed me with their interview skills, most of them answered those meaningless questions with deep, thoughtful responses.

Only during that segment Number 14 Dilara Korkmaz caught my eye (and my ear). She introduced herself by saying she has her own fashion/textile company, and if she represents Turkey in an international pageant, she wants to wear her own creations and designs on the international stage. BAM! That was certainly a hit in the eyes of the judges (especially for Yildirim Mayruk, the famous fashion designer).

Moreover, to Eser’s very annoying question of “what would you do if the 3 things you took to a deserted island disappear”, she responded by saying she is an adaptive person, so she will survive, but she would struggle with the loneliness. It was an honest, confident, and modest response, all at the same time.

At the end of the interview segment, though, my overall favourite was still Yesim, who gave an excellent interview, highlighting her passion for the practice of law ( and she is a specialist of penal law!), basketball and pageants. I have not seen such an articulate, well-spoken and intelligent young woman in a long time.

In the end, Dilara won and she will represent us in Puerto Rico, where Miss World will take place. What I found really interesting was that the audience shouted “14!” in unison before the winner was announced, so I guess those who watched it in person agreed with the judges’ decision.

As I predicted Cemrenaz became Miss Universe Turkey and Sira became Miss Supranational Turkey. I sincerely believe that Sira will become a frontrunner for Miss Supranational, as she is the best representative we sent to Supra- ever. I am truly sorry that Yesim did not win a crown, but otherwise, I am very happy that the “well-connected” girls did not win, especially as they both gave relatively poor interviews.

I have no idea why the Miss Turkey organization does not have the license for Miss International (anymore) or Miss Grand International (yet), but I hope Yesim will find her way to one of those two pageants, because she would have a decent chance to place in either pageant.

Overall, I am happy that the results are much more respectable than those of 2019. I have a feeling that we should thank our international queens for that. Nevertheless, the placement of the two well-connected girls will certainly raise some questions. Moving forward, I hope for two things: a more modern, relevant, and transparent pageant and professional training and full support for our winners.

MISSED THE SHOW? Watch it HERE.

Special thanks to Nick C! Photos @missturkey.official