Bülent Ersoy (born June 9, 1952) is a transgender celebrity and popular singer of Turkish classical music. Over the years, Ersoy has become a symbol of the increased tolerance for LGBT figures in Turkish media.
Bülent began her career in 1971 as a male singer of Turkish classical music, and became an actor early on. Already one of Turkey's most popular male singers and actors, Bülent Ersoy gained international notoriety in 1981 after havingsex reassignment surgery in London. As a woman Ersoy kept the name Bülent even though it is a male name.
After the operation, Bülent found herself in opposition to the regime of Kenan Evren. In a crackdown on "social deviance", her public performances were banned along with those of other transsexual artists. From Ersoy's point of view, the ban should not even have applied to her, as she was an actual woman and not simply a man dressed as one. She petitioned the Turkish courts to legally recognize her as a woman. The petition was rejected in January 1982. Soon afterwards she left the entertainment industry in protest of the Evren regime's oppressive policies.
Finally, in 1988, the Turkish Civil Code was revised so that those who completed sex reassignment surgery could apply for a pink or a blue identity card (pink for female, blue for male) by which they were legally recognized in their new sex. Ersoy soon returned to singing and acting, becoming more popular as a woman than she had been as a man. Her public even took to calling her "Abla," (elder sister), an affectionate sign of their total acceptance of her gender.
Despite her personal victory and acceptance by her fans, Bülent Ersoy has continued to court controversy. On her 1995 album, Alatürka, she sang the adhan (the Muslim call to prayer) in the song Istanbul Aziz, an act which angered many Muslim clerics. In 1998, a further storm of controversy swept Turkey when Bülent married her companion, Cem Adler. Interestingly enough, the public outcry had nothing to do with Ersoy's transsexual status but rather with the fact that her husband was 20 years younger than she.
Ersoy sparked major controversy in February 2008 when she publicly criticised Turkey's military incursion into Northern Iraq and said she "would not send her sons to war" if she were a mother. An Istanbul public prosecutor filed charges against her for "turning Turks against compulsory military service". The Turkish Human Right Foundation (IHD) stood up to Ersoy's defence and in December 2008 Ersoy was pronounced not guilty by a Turkish court.
Now semi-retired, she continues to perform and serves as jury member on one of Turkey's most popular television shows, Popstar Alaturka, Turkish equivalent of American Idol.
Links to songs performed by Bülent Ersoy
1972 - Derdimin Dermani Ol, 1978 - Beddua / Iste Bizim Hikayemiz, 1981 - Yuz Karasi, 1983 - Ak Guvercin, 1984 - Duskunum Sana, 1985 - Yasamak Istiyorum, 1986 - Konseri, 1988 - Biz Ayrilamayiz, 1989 - Istiyorum, 1990 - Öptüm, 1991 - Bir Sen Bir De Ben, 1992 - Ablan Kurban Olsun Sana, 1993 - Sefam Olsun, 1995 - Benim Dunya Guzellerim, 1997 - Maazallah, 2000 - Alaturka 2000, 2002 - Canimsin, 2006 - Cile Bulbulum, 2007 - Makber, Yana Yana Kül Öldumö Kadere bak, 2008 - Doğum Günü (on Popstar Alaturka), 2009 - Zaman Akıp Gider (on IBO show)
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