Muhterem Nur, née Aysel Muhterem Kısa (December 31, 1932 in Manastır, Yugoslavia, today Bitola in Republic of Macedonia) is a Turkish movie actress and pop music singer.

Biography

She was born as Aysel Kısa on December 31, 1932 in Manastır, then Yugoslavia, today Republic of Macedonia. She lost her 16-year-old mother at her birth, and never knew her father. She was raised by her maternal aunt, whom she called "mother". She was renamed "Olga" as a result of Yugoslavian regime's assimilation campaign. All ethnic Turks and other Muslims in Yugoslavia were forced to adopt Christian names and renounce all Muslim customs.

In her infancy, she emigrated with her family members to Turkey and settled in Tekirdağ, northwestern Turkey. Later, due to financial problems, the family moved in 1942 to Istanbul to live in a small house at Eyüp district.

In the new identity card issued by the Turkish Government, she was named Aysel Muhterem Kısa. She spent her childhood in Eyüp, where she attended the primary school. After finishing the school, she began to work in a factory. Then, she got to know by chance Suzan Yakar Rutkay, a notable female singer and partner of that time's biggest film production company Halk Film. She helped Muhterem Nur step into cinema.

Muhterem Nur made her first marriage in 1961 with Işın Kaan (1937-1992), a journalist and actor. The couple divorced in 1963. She dated with celebrities such as movie directors Memduh Ün and Ümit Utku, violinist Cihat Aşkın, actors Yılmaz Duru and Efkan Efekan.

In 1982, she met Müslüm Gürses (1953-2013), a talented folk singer at that time, during a concert tour in Malatya, where she shared the stage with him. They started a quarrel in the first evening. This became also the beginning of an ever-lasting deep love between the two. The couple got married in privacy following a four-year togetherness on May 5, 1986. Her husband died on March 3, 2013 following a heart bypass surgery he underwent in November 2012.