Turkey: Kurdish singer on trial for praising rebel leader
On 22 May 2007 a prosecutor demanded that the Kurdish singer Xemgin Birhat be sentenced to five years in prison for performing a song that praises imprisoned Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan
Xemgin Birhat (real name: Zülfü Kızıldemir) was detained in March 2007 after performing his Kurdish-language song 'Mezin Apo', ('The Great Apo' – Apo is short for Abdullah), at a spring festival traditionally used by Kurds to assert separatist demands, according to a report from the government-run Anatolia News Agency.
In the opening trial on 22 May, the prosecutor asked that Kızıldemir be sentenced on charges of engaging in propaganda in favor of Ocalan's banned Kurdistan Workers' Party, PKK.
Kızıldemir rejected the charges and said because he had lived in Germany that for the past 30 years, he was not aware of Turkey's anti-terrorism laws, the Anatolia News Agency reported.
A weekend in December 2011 ended tragically when a man was brutally murdered after he requested that musicians in a bar sing a folksong in Zaza Kurdish, his native language
Kurdish singer Ferhat Tunç is the target of seven investigations and two trials due to speeches he held during his campaign for the general elections in June 2011
Turkish musician Fuat Talay explains (in Danish language) about his personal experiences with music censorship in Turkey which led to his imprisonment and exile
Turkish rock musician Yaşar Kurt's dissident song 'Korku', released in the late 1990s, resulted in his trial for treason where he was acquitted from a 12 years' prison sentence
A 10 months sentence to three young men who had been chanting slogans at a Grup Yorum concert in Dersim in 2007 was confirmed by Supreme Court’s 9th Office
Berna Yılmaz and Ferhat Tüzer, two imprisoned students, have reportedly received a six months ban on having visitors because they were singing a folk song
On 15 July 2011 at the İstanbul Jazz Festival the concert of the Kurdish singer Aynur Doğan was interrupted by shouting people in the audience, forcing her to leave the stage
The Kurdish singer Farquin (Yılmaz Dünen) is facing a prison sentence of between seven and 20 years, charged with ‘spreading propaganda for an illegal organisation’
The 16 members of the Beyoğlu Troupe were sued by Prime Minister Erdoğan on the grounds of the lyrics of a song they performed. On 8 June 2011 they were acquitted
A gendarmerie commander reportedly ordered village guards to “break Ferhat Tunç’s legs” as Ferhat Tunç was starting a tour in villages in Cemisgezek/Dersim area
The Turkish courts appear to be ‘copy-pasting’ cases against the popular Kurdish singer Ferhat Tunç, and the agenda is allegedly to intimidate and silence him
Singer Ferhat Tunç wrote this article as a personal comment to the Music Freedom Day initiative, describing the current situation for more than a dozen musicians in his country
A trial against 16 members of the Beyoglu Troupe of Actors started on 21 January 2011. The university students are charged with "insult" in connection with the lyrics of a song
On 27 January 2011, Turkish folk music singer Pınar Sağ was sentenced to ten months in prison for praising leftist revolutionary Ibrahim Kaypakkaya at a festival in Dersim
