Zehra Bilir

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title: "Zehra Bilir" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["turkish-people-of-armenian-descent", "people-from-arapgir", "1913-births", "2007-deaths", "turkish-folk-singers", "turkish-women-folk-singers", "ethnic-armenian-muslims", "20th-century-muslims", "ethnic-armenian-people", "20th-century-turkish-women-singers"] description: "Turkish folk singer (1913–2007)" topic_path: "geography/turkey" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zehra_Bilir" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Turkish folk singer (1913–2007) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

Field	Value
background	person
name	Zehra Bilir
image	1950 01 06 Aksam Zehra Bilir ve Muzeyyen Senar.jpg
landscape
caption	Zehra Bilir (left) with Müzeyyen Senar (1950)
birth_name	Eliz Surhantakyan
birth_date
birth_place	Arapgir, Ottoman Empire
death_date
death_place	Istanbul, Turkey
genre	Turkish folk music
years_active
spouse
partner
website
::

| background = person | honorific_prefix = | name = Zehra Bilir | honorific_suffix = | image = 1950 01 06 Aksam Zehra Bilir ve Muzeyyen Senar.jpg | image_upright = | image_size = | landscape = | alt = | caption = Zehra Bilir (left) with Müzeyyen Senar (1950) | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = Eliz Surhantakyan | alias = | birth_date = | birth_place = Arapgir, Ottoman Empire | origin = | death_date = | death_place = Istanbul, Turkey | genre = Turkish folk music | occupation = | instrument = | years_active = | label = | current_member_of = | past_member_of = | spouse = | partner = | website = | module = | module2 = | module3 = Zehra Bilir (March 26, 1913, in Arapgir, Ottoman Empire – June 28, 2007, in Istanbul, Turkey) was a renowned Turkish folk singer of Armenian descent. She was known as the Edith Piaf of Turkey.

Life

Zehra Bilir was born Eliz Surhantakyan in Arapgir. In an article published in the Armenian newspaper Agos, it was suggested that Zehra Bilir's real Armenian name was Eliza Ölçüyan. 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 her step-father 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 married 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.

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

References

References

1. "Zehra Bilir". youzeek.
2. "Zehra Bilir". Portland Show-guide.
3. "ZEHRA BİLİR (Eliza Surhantakyan)". Bedri Ozdemir.
4. "Yanlış bilinen bir doğru".
5. (30 March 2017). "From Eliza to Zehra: A 'Hidden Armenian' Superstar in Turkey".
6. (1 June 1979). "Zehra Bilir". Kulis.
7. Bercuhi Berberyan. (31 March 2016). "Yanlış bilinen bir doğru". Agos.
8. http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2002/03/12/z02.html {{Webarchive. link. (2014-04-30 - "Müftü taktı. 22 yaşındaydım. Evlenecektim. Sibel ismiyle müracaat ettim. Ama müftü, "Kızım bu Türk ismini andırmıyor" dedi. Ben de, "Öyleyse siz bulun bir isim" dedim. "Zehra olsun" dedi. Bilir de, ilk eşimin soyadıydı. Ben o soyadla ünlendim. Sonra da değiştirmek istemedim...")

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::