KEY PEOPLE

KEY PEOPLA

SUHA ÖZGERMİ

Lawyer, Textile Manufacturer, Employer, Producer

In Turkey, everyone from 7 to 70 knows Suha Özgermi. He has been successful in many areas in the past stages of his life. The feature that makes him known by everyone is that he is known as [Milli Çapkın]. He is known in Hollywood cinema and the show industry for being a producer. He is known in France for being an important sponsor of the Cannes Film Festival for a while.The reason he is known among lawyers is that, He is also a lawyer who deals with international cases. He has been an advocate of important cases.

He was the legal attorney of the Ottoman Dynasty family, the founding family of the Ottoman Empire, for a while.

The subject of this case is the lawsuits filed against the Republic of Turkey by Neslişah Sultan, Mihrimah Sultan and Şükrüye Sultan, members of the dynasty who went abroad after the collapse of the Empire, to get back the real estates of their ancestors that were included in the public assets of the Republic of Turkey.

However, since the debts of the dynasty were paid by the people who founded the new Republic of Turkey in the Treaty of Lausanne, the assets of the debtor naturally became the public property of the people of the Republic of Turkey.

Therefore, the lawsuits did not reach a conclusion in favor of the dynasty.
Why did Süha Özgermi take on this case?
No one questioned this.
Let’s go into the connections that also reveal his genealogy.

Süha Özgermi is the grandson of Abdurrahman Lütfi Bey, the only son of Faik Bey, the Private Secretary of the 34th Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid Khan. (Abdulhamid (Ottoman: عبد الحميد ثانی, romanized: Abdü’l-Ḥamīd-i sânî; September 21, 1842 – February 10, 1918) is known as the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, the 113th caliph of Islam and the last sultan to have absolute power over the state in the process of collapse.)

Abdurahman Lütfi Özgermi was born to the Ottoman palace courtier Peru Hanım, who was legendary for her beauty. He graduated from the “Taudicum” gymnasium in Switzerland. After returning to Turkey, he got married in Istanbul and had a son in 1923, whom he named “Süha”.
Thus began the life of Süha Özgermi, known as the “national playboy” of Turkey.

Abdurrahman Lütfi Özgermi took part in the establishment of Sümerbank in the 1930s, and for many years he was the head of the factory in Istanbul and the “Domestic Goods Department” in Ankara. After graduating from Ankara Law School, his son Süha Özgermi, who lived in Europe for a few years and returned home, would also enter the textile business.

Süha Özgermi expanded the workshops he founded and, over time, turned them into “underwear factories”, first producing and selling military underwear to the Turkish Armed Forces and then to some NATO countries, and became a tax champion several times in the late 1970s, when he also served as the general secretary of the Galatasaray Club.

In this article, we present to you a summary compiled from Süha Özgermi’s business and private life.

Süha Özgermi was born on October 13, 1923 in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul. He belonged to a wealthy family. The mansion he was born in had 40 rooms. He studied at Kabataş Erkek Lisesi, one of Istanbul’s prestigious educational institutions, and then entered Ankara University Faculty of Law. After graduating from school, he registered with the Ankara Bar Association and worked as a lawyer in the capital Ankara for 7 years.

He worked as the official lawyer of the Hereke Municipality in the province of İzmit for a while. Mr. Özgermi experienced an interesting event during this period.
As a result of the exam he took to obtain a driver’s license, he was entitled to receive a driver’s license and since the authority to sign this document belongs to the municipality lawyer, he approved his own driver’s license. He then worked as a lawyer first in Istanbul and then in London.

In 1975, he founded the Özgermi Tekstil company and focused on the production of underwear for soldiers. He quickly turned his company into a holding company.

During the period he managed, 1200 workers were working in the ‘Özgermi Textil’ production facilities. It met the underwear needs of the Turkish Army, which hosts approximately 1 million soldiers, and NATO’s Mediterranean Allied Forces Command.

Mr. Süha Özgermi, who was elected as the Secretary General of Galatasaray Football Club in 1974, quickly became a well-known and loved person among the football club’s fans.

Despite Suha Özgermi’s success in business life, his love life had its ups and downs. In the past, while he was married, he unexpectedly met İzmir musician Mrs. Fatoş Birsen, whom he fell in love with, and lived with for 3 years. This relationship ended when his wife learned about this incident.

He decided to travel on the ‘Love Boat’, which he watched as a TV series, and paid a large amount of money for this and was among the passengers who boarded the ship with his wife.

For this reason, he appeared as a guest actor in some parts of the movie. At the ball held on the first night, he met a girl who was a stewardess on the ship and when he later learned that this girl was Turkish but did not speak Turkish, he taught her Turkish during the trip.

Starting in 1984, when he provided financial support to the Cannes Film Festival, he suddenly became a well-known and respected person among the leaders of the cinema and show industry in Europe and America.

Süha Özgermi says the following in his memories of that period.

“Throughout my life, I have always looked for the best. I have always had an interest in what is beautiful and aesthetic. Wherever I went, I would stay in famous hotels and take great pleasure in meeting the leaders of the world. While doing this, I would take care to act as a complete gentleman with the pride of being Turkish and the awareness that I was representing my country.

My experiences taught me the following:
There is a specialness in the famous, There is wisdom in the successful.
This idea is the basis of my sponsorship of the Cannes Film Festival.”

Mr. Suha Özgermi’s journey to friendship with celebrities of the cinema and show industry began at the Cannes Film Festival.

Again, while he was in Cannes during a festival season, he read a news item in the ‘Nice Matin Newspaper’, whose publications he followed with pleasure, that Audrey Lounders, who played the role of ‘Mrs. Afton’ in the Dallas series, would come to Cannes and give a concert.

According to the news, the famous star will stay at the hotel where he is staying in Cannes. He immediately calls the hotel florist and has a yellow and red flower prepared with the colors of the Galatasaray Club and sends it to Miss Audrey Lounders’ room.

When the phone rings 2 hours later, it is none other than Miss Audrey Lounders.

Audrey Lounders thanks him for the flowers and says she wants to visit him to listen to Istanbul, whose mystery she has heard.

Mr. Ozgermi tells Miss Audrey Lounders, “I will come to your concert tonight, I will have coffee after the concert and tell you about Turkey and Istanbul.”

When the door was knocked at around 01:00 after the concert, it was Miss Audrey Lounders who came.

Ozgermi describes that moment as follows.
“Of course, Turkey with a population of 70 million and Istanbul with a population of 16 million could not be explained in one hour. Our conversation lasted until the first light of the morning. The next afternoon, we encountered a surprise when we were leaving the room. In the morning, journalists came to see and interview Miss Audrey Lounders, but they could not find her where she was. One of the hotel employees must have secretly informed the journalists that Miss Lounders was in my room, because they all gathered at the door of my room and waited for us to leave.

When Miss Audrey Lounders and I opened the door to leave the room, flashes went off one after another and our photos soon spread all over the world. reached their newspapers and agencies.

Among those who recorded this moment was a journalist from Turkey.

This journalist was Mr. Ertuğrul Akbay, who wrote about Istanbul’s night entertainment under the name of ‘Gölge Adam’. He had come to Cannes to watch the festival. In fact, he was a reporter I valued.
The news he sent to Istanbul made headlines in the newspapers the next day with the following title.

“Süha Özgermi successfully represented our country in Cannes as the ‘National Celebrity’.”

“The title of this news must have attracted attention in the Turkish public opinion because when I returned, everyone I met started addressing me as ‘national celebrant’. Thus, this adjective also took precedence over my name.

I would have been even more pleased if he had used the title of gentleman or gentleman instead of celebrant. However, when he wrote me as a national celebrant, our people also called me ‘celebrant’. Of course, as our people got to know me, they learned how kind a person I was and started using that word not in its real sense but for sympathy.”

Mr. Suha Özgermi’s successful debut and the news that appeared one after another in the world press made him known to many circles.

HOW DRIVEN DRIVER AFFECTED ÖZGERMİN’S LIFE

Süha Özgermi had a traffic accident in ISTANBUL on October 1, 1983. Whatever happened, happened in the early eighties…

One night, he left the textile factory with his car driven by his private driver to go to dinner with his aunt Fahire Hanım. His aunt lived in the Ulus neighborhood of Beşiktaş district. Süha Özgermi was never late for an appointment. This time, it was not like that. The appointment did not happen. Because he had a traffic accident on the road, while he was driving under the Mecidiyeköy highway bridge, another car driven by a drunk driver entered the lane they were using from the opposite direction. He cornered Özgermi’s car. While trying to get out of danger, Özgermi’s car skidded to the barriers in the middle of the road. He was seriously injured. He had an accident. His driver died during the accident and he had also hit his head heavily on the front dashboard and his body had fractures due to the accident. After the first intervention at the hospital, he was transferred to the ‘Canton Hospital’ in Switzerland. He lived in a coma for 2 years and 4 months in the hospital in Switzerland, connected to a life support unit. When he woke up, he had a series of surgeries due to the fractures in his bones. He then received physical therapy in Lugano for 6 months. After completing his treatment, he returned to Turkey. Süha Özgermi was a completely different person. He could not walk without a cane.

When this accident happened, he had textile production facilities that employed 1200 people, 4 apartment buildings, two office buildings and luxury cars that he owned.

When he returned, he saw that the company’s managers had driven the company into bankruptcy and that he no longer had the assets. He had 25 million dollars left in his personal bank account.

He made his decision that day. He would no longer work and would only live on ready money. Because if he had died, this money would have no meaning to him.

This accident forced him to use a cane throughout his life, and it suddenly canceled out his career and business success that he had achieved up until that point.

Mr. Suha Özgermi, who traveled around the world 33 times while he was alive, made many attempts to start his life over again.

In 1986, the Turkish government’s decision to increase tourism investments came into effect. For this reason, the Tourism Development Board was established. He was invited to this board as a member.

At that time, upon the request of Prime Minister Özal, various suggestions and projects were put forward to promote Turkey’s tourism potential in Europe.

He hired the brand to organize the Miss Globe International competitions in Turkey by making an agreement with his friend Li Sun in Hollywood. His aim was to introduce the Bodrum district of Muğla, which was developing with tourism investments, and Turkey’s tourism potential in general to the outside world.

He started working immediately by taking on the directorship of the Miss Globe beauty competition. He had an interest in show business and promotion since his childhood. This job was an invaluable career for him. In 1988, he organized the 63rd Miss Globe International competition at the Halikarnas Open Air Nightclub in Bodrum, on the Aegean coast of western Turkey. Thus, his star rose as a producer in a new business segment. He then brought international competitions such as Miss Tourism, Miss Cosmopolitan, Dream Girl and Model of Models to Turkey. He was very effective in introducing Turkey’s tourism potential to the outside world.

When I was explaining to Prime Minister Turgut Özal in the following years how they turned Turkey’s tourism potential into income, I told Süha Özgermi the following. Tourism is a factory without a chimney. This is a blessing from God. Here we have the sun, sand and sea that Europeans miss. There is extraordinary nature and history. Let’s show both Turkey’s civilized and enlightened face and its hospitality.”

The competition organized by Özgermi had a wide impact in Turkey. For this reason, some other producers wanted to focus on this field. Some of these entrepreneurs at that time were Erkan Özerman, one of the TRT producers, Süha Alpaylı, the Director of the LCC maturation school, and Assoc. Prof. Güngör Tuncer.

Özgermi wrote a letter to Li Sun and requested that the Best Model competition’s franchise license be leased to Turkey.

(Later, these three partners could not agree and Erkan Özarman decided to continue the business on his own under the title of Best Model of Turkey and Best Model of the World, while Süha Alpaylı decided to run the business under the title of Miss Model of the World. Özerman was a very powerful producer at the time and prevented Süha Alpaylı from advancing. Alpaylı was forced to move the competition to China. Assoc. Prof. Güngör Tuncer, however, did not enter this business again.)

The Miss Globe international final competition organized in 1988 under the presidency of Mr. Suha Özgermi was a competition in which the Miss Globe Organization expanded its field of activity in Europe. Mr. Özgermi made a big splash with this competition.

After this successful organization, Mr. Özgermi’s initiative in beauty competitions led to a rapid rise in his career again. He made a surprise marriage during these travels.

While Süha Özgermi was organizing the Miss Hawaiian Tropic competition in Las Vegas, he fell in love with a girl who worked for the competition’s television producer Jim Gibson.

This girl was actually the fiancée of Hollywood actor Ömer Şerif. However, Özgermi did not know this. Özgermi describes this event as follows. “I was so impressed when I saw this girl that I cannot describe it. This meeting led us to marriage. Our rings were worn in a helicopter in the skies of Las Vegas. After we got married, a friend of mine informed me that my wife was actually engaged to Ömer Şerif. After a short research, I determined that this was true. I realized that I could not continue this relationship. I had a violent fight with him. I asked how could you hide this information from me. Because Ömer Şerif was a friend I valued. I told him that we could not continue our relationship in this situation. He told me that this was not your problem. I chose you. I told him again that Ömer Şerif was my close friend and that I could not continue this situation. He said to me, “If you do not want to continue our marriage, let’s get a divorce.” I went back to Las Vegas and we got a divorce.

In 1990, I invited Ornella Muti, the woman with the most beautiful eyes in the world, to the ‘65th Miss Globe International’ final competition held at the Holiday Inn Crown Plaza Hotel in Istanbul. Thus, I attracted the attention of the world press to the competition. This competition was hosted by Mr. Cenk Koray and the British presenter Sonja Eady Suna Yıldızoğlu together (Sonya Eady decided to live in Turkey with this competition and became a Turkish citizen by taking the name ‘Suna Yıldızoğlu’ in the following years.)

A year later, with the permission of the Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, the ancient Aspendos theater in Antalya opened its doors to the world beauties.

The host of the competition was the American entertainment program presenter Mr. Jim Gibson. Among the jury members were two famous names of cinema and show business in Turkey; Coşkun Sabah and Hülya Avşar.

This competition was distributed and broadcasted on television as VTR in more than 60 countries around the world, leaving an important mark on the history of the Miss Globe International competitions. The 65th Miss Globe International competition has been described as the biggest Miss Globe competition to date in articles written by various commentators.

In the competitions that have become traditional for 16 years, Miss Globe, Miss Tourism, Model of Models, Queen of Queens, Miss Dream Girl, Beauty Of The Year, Miss Hawaiian Tropic, Miss Cosmopolitan, Best Model Queen competitions were also held in Turkey under the title of Festival of Beauty.

Especially in Turkey, when casino operations were free, high budgets were provided for competitions during the RCA Entertainment period. Thus, dazzling competitions were organized.

This process ended with Süha Özgermi saying she is old and making her Jubilee with the 78th Miss Globe International competition held in Antalya in 2003. Suha Özgermi became a great celebrity in Turkey with beauty and modeling competitions. She was always a colorful character especially for Yeşilçam cinema and entertainment programs on television. In his criticisms about famous female actors of Turkish show industry and cinema, Güngör Bayrak, Nazan Saatçi, Nazan Adalı, Hülya Avşar, Fatoş Birsen, Gözde Tan, Manolya Onur are said to be talented and successful actors.

In 2003, the competition chains under Charlie See & Charlie See Associate, headquartered in North Hollywood, were put up for sale by Li Sun. After it was purchased by Rasim AYDIN, the owner of RCA Global Media from Turkey, the company’s headquarters were moved to Istanbul.

Özgermi’s withdrawal from the competition business did not make those who do business in this field happy. Upon popular demand, he founded a brand new competition in 2006 that would reveal Turkey’s interest in its history.

“Miss Civilization of the World” Competition

Özgermi explained the idea of ​​establishing a new competition in an interview as follows.

“I was impressed by the movement of the meeting of civilizations. We, the Turks, are the cradle of civilization, so I thought we should do something to prevent others from taking our leadership in this area. This thought encouraged me to establish this new competition,” he said.

It is the “Queen of World Civilizations Competition” developed to revive the ancient civilizations in the Anatolian lands that form the current Republic of Turkey and to spread the common culture.

The “Queen of World Civilizations” competition was established to reveal and promote the historical values ​​of Turkey, which sprouted in Anatolian soil and is the source of cultures in almost all countries of the world today.

Despite his advancing age, Mr. Özgermi held the 2010 final on January 23 at the İpekyolu Hall in the Selçuk district of İzmir province after the final competitions held in Adıyaman province, Mount Nemrut, Şanlıurfa province, the capital Ankara, Eski Foça and İstanbul.

THE LAST CURTAIN
In 2011, he left İstanbul and moved to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and settled in the house of his female friend Naciye Kaya, who lived close to his son Faik Özgermi, who was an Ambassador at the United Nations. Özgermi, who was 90 years old and had a stomach problem, suddenly felt unwell one night while staying at the Saray Hotel in Lefkoşa and was taken to see Dr. He was taken to Burhan Nalbantoğlu Hospital. Özgermi, who was receiving treatment there, passed away in Lefkoşa on September 20, 2013.

Süha Özgermi’s friend Naciye Kaya announced the news of his death to Turkey. “Süha Bey had nothing wrong until 1 month ago. He had been having stomach problems for the last month. He suddenly got sick at the hotel last night, we took him to the hospital. He passed away at 09:15 this morning. The doctors said he had no specific illness and that his death was due to old age,” she said.

Özgermi was laid to rest in Lefkoşa.

*This article was obtained by scanning the news, interviews and conversations about Süha Özgermi that appeared in the Turkish media throughout his life.