İlkay Özdemir

In December 2013, she performed an under-water escape show, in which she freed her chained hands and feet, and escaped in one minute and three seconds from a cage in a huge tank full of sharks at Istanbul Aquarium. The show was held in order to draw public attention to the endangered fish stock through pollution in the Marmara Sea.

During a ceremony at the Turkish Patent Institute in November 2006, she amazed then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with her magic performance of cards, banknotes and doves.

İlkay Özdemir began her professional career in 2004. She took part in the Sinan Çetin's television show with magician Uri Geller. She regrets her participation because the illusion show of spoon bending by Uri Geller turned into a supposed psychic effect.

She won the first prize at the 2004 Sofia magic competition with the trick "Flames and Birds", which brought her the 2011 Merlin Award in the category "Best Female Magician of the Year", a prize given to a woman in the USA and Asia only.

In 2001, during her study of Economics at the university, she jobbed for psychiatrist Dr. Selim Başarır. Her employer, an experienced amateur magician, inspired her in stage magic. She amazed her friends with card tricks she learned from Başarır. She improved her repertoire of card tricks with more tricks her mentor taught her. Some time later, he encouraged her to participate at international competitions. She won a first place in the card tricks category. In 2009, Selim Başarır would be honored with the Merlin Award of Best Magic Mentor.

İlkay Özdemir (born 1981) is a Turkish stage magician.