Celebrating 4 of Turkey’s finest divas

Ever since Sunday's news of the passing of Senar, her songs have been on replay. Referred to as the "Diva of the Republic," she was a famous Turkish classical music vocalist that was born on July 16, 1918, in a village close to Bursa. Her musical career began at the age of 13 when she entered the Anadolu Musiki Cemiyeti in Üsküdar, where many of Turkey's most famous performers of classical Turkish music were trained at the start of the Republic. Referred to as Türk Sanat Müziği, Turkish classical music was a style developed in Istanbul and other major Ottoman cities and towns that was performed in palaces. It consisted of a vocalist backed by an ensemble, which could include instruments such as the tambur, ney, kemençe, kanun and violin.

Senar actually had a stutter from a young age, but it didn't hinder her success. Moreover, by the age of 15, she was famous for her radio performances and began performing live. She recorded her first album at the age of 16, and she is also famous for being a favorite performer for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, and on many occasions would give special concerts in his audience. She also starred in a number of movies, including "Kerem ile Aslı" and as herself in the autobiographical "Analar Ölmez." She was the longest living legend of this style of music, yet leaves her legacy to other female greats that she mentored including Bülent Ersoy, a diva in her own right.

Ersoy, a Turkish actress, transgendered celebrity and popular singer of Turkish classical music, was born on June 9, 1952, in Istanbul. Ersoy began her career as a male singer and actor and was already popular when she gained international notoriety in 1981 after having sex reassignment surgery in London. She became much more popular as a woman, although she kept the name Bülent; however, her performances, as well as those of other transsexuals and transgendered individuals, were banned for much of the '80s by the Kenan Evren regime following the 1980 coup. Her petition to be legally recognized as a woman was denied in January 1982, and she attempted suicide days later. The following year, she left the Turkish entertainment industry for Germany in protest of the Evren regime's repressed policies, and it wasn't until 1988 when the Turkish Civil Code was revised that she was able to be legally recognized in her new gender.

Since then, she has become one of the country's most well-loved performers in the Turkish classical music genre, has starred in five films, is now a popular television personality and will now be a jury member on the reality fashion series "Bu Tarz Benim." Her fans and the public refer to her as the "Diva" or "Abla," meaning elder sister, in an affectionate gesture to show their acceptance of her altered gender. Additionally, the tabloids love to showcase her capriciousness. Her perpetual stardom over the years has become a significant symbol for the increased tolerance for LGBTQ figures in Turkey.

Türkan Şoray, a film actress who has starred in over 150 films, is another top Turkish diva. Born in Eyüp on June 28, 1945, Şoray made her film debut in 1960 at the ripe age of 15 and starred in over 100 films in the next decade. Easily considered to be the epitome of Turkish beauty, her almond-shaped eyes and heart-shaped lips, dark hair and pale complexion sealed her status as a diva, which allowed her to establish the "Şoray Rules," and would only sign on to a project if the studio and directors abided by them. These rules stipulate that the films she acted in had to be shot in Istanbul, as she would not leave the city, and her characters could never kiss anyone nor should there be any implication of intercourse in her films. She also needed to receive the script a month ahead of time, was allowed to make any changes she liked and refused to work on Sundays. Her unprecedented success in Turkish filmmaking made her the most in demand female star of the Yeşilçam era. Her most applauded films co-starred famous actor Kadir İnanır and include "Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalım," "Acı Hayat," "Çalıkuşu" and "Sultan," the latter of which became her moniker. Her acting zenith came with the 1987 film "On Kadin" in which she played a total of 10 characters herself. Her most recent starring role was in the 2006 "Hayatımın Kadınısın" (You Are the Woman of My Life) playing alongside director Uğur Yücel, and in 2010, she was named a goodwill ambassador to UNESCO.

Leyla Gencer, a world-renowned bel canto operatic soprano is possibly the least known Diva in Turkey, as she was given the moniker "La Diva Turca" in the opera world and spent most of her career in Italy. Born in 1928 in Polonezköy to a Turkish father and a Polish mother, Gencer began her singing education at the Istanbul Conservatory and then worked privately under an Italian soprano. She performed with the Turkish State Theater and sang frequently at government functions up until the 1950s. She made her Italian debut in 1953 in Naples and continued her career in Italy as "The Turkish Diva" for the next 40 years reprising more than 70 roles, and became famed for her representations of Donizetti's heroines.