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FERHAT TUNÇ
Singer and composer (Turkey)
15 January 2007

"In total, if you add all the court cases against me, that will add up to 10 and a half years imprisonment – if they all come to pass. But in spite of all this censorship, we continue to sing, we continue to express our thoughts and views..."

Ferhat Tunç



See video of Ferhat's speech Video of Ferhat Tunç's speech
during the session about music censorship in Turkey, entitled “Crossing the Bridge”, at the 3rd Freemuse World Conference in Istanbul in November 2006. Ferhat Tunç is introduced by the moderator of the session, Sanar Yurdatapan. 

[Duration: 7:02]
Ferhat Tunç is considered one of Turkey's foremost Kurdish musicians, but he is constantly threatened by Turkish authorities and harassed by militant death squads.


See video of Ferhat's speech Video of Ferhat Tunç performing
when he was in Denmark to meet with leading parliamentarians and high level representatives from Amnesty, Pen and Danish Arts organisations in February 2006.

[Duration: 0:12]





Ferhat Tunç's offical web site:
ferhattunc.net



Related reading

Mondomix – June 2007:

'Free Ferhat Tunc'
Read more about the Freemuse conference

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Read more on freemuse.org

Turkey: Date of next hearing set in Ferhat Tunç's case
The date for the next hearing in the case against musician and Freemuse Award winner Ferhat Tunç has been set to 30 September 2010
04 August 2010
Freemuse appeals to Turkish Prime Minister: Dismiss Ferhat Tunç's case
Artists, human rights activists and scholars join Freemuse in an appeal to the Turkish government for the dismissal of the latest court case against Kurdish singer Ferhat Tunç
24 June 2010
Turkey: Kurdish singer Ferhat Tunc faces 15 years in prison
Kurdish singer Ferhat Tunç faces imprisonment of up to 15 years regarding charges of "spreading propaganda for the PKK organisation", the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party
26 May 2010
Turkey: Kurdish music in turmoil of censorship and court cases
A Kurdish song has been banned, and Kurdish singers are being arrested for singing - or just singing along to - specific Kurdish songs, accused of making propaganda
19 May 2010
Turkey: A new investigation against musician Ferhat Tunç
Ferhat Tunç made a formal deposition at a Public Prosecution Office due to an investigation filed against him about a speech he made at a music festival in 2009.
16 April 2010
Freemuse Award 2010: Winners honoured in London
The joint winners of the Freemuse Award 2010, Mahsa Vahdat and Ferhat Tunç, gave a short and impressive performance at the award ceremony in London
29 March 2010
Freemuse Award winners 2010: Mahsa Vahdat and Ferhat Tunç
Award ceremony held in London on 25 March 2010 in collaboration with Index on Censorship
22 March 2010
Turkey: Ferhat Tunç sang at large rally for Alevi rights
Ferhat Tunç was one of the artists who performed in Istanbul on 8 November 2009 in front of 200,000 people protesting for the rights of a religious minority
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A statement in favour of a new plan on how the Turkish government should approach the Kurdish issue turned fans of the popular Turkish pop diva Sezen Aksu up against her
14 September 2009
Ferhat Tunç
Video interview with singer and musician Ferhat Tunç from Turkey who speaks about his personal experiences with music censorship
19 August 2009
Turkey: Singer Ferhat Tunç in his seventh court case
Police brutality against the Kurdish-Turkish singer Ferhat Tunç lead to a court case - not against the police, but against the singer
14 July 2009
USA: Censored musicians spoke at Duke University
In its human rights series, Duke University in North Carolina, USA, presented two censored musicians and highlighted freedom of musical expression
25 March 2009
Human Rights for Musicians – Impressions & Descriptions: Ferhat Tunç
Testimonial by Ferhat Tunc in the anniversary publication 'Human Rights for Musicians - Ten Years With Freemuse'
30 January 2009
Human Rights for Musicians – Ferhat Tunç acquitted • Jens-Peter Bonde
Article by Jens-Peter Bonde who is president of EU Democrats and was Danish member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 2008
30 January 2009
Turkey: Singer Ferhat Tunç's trial postponed again
On 28 May 2008 Ferhat Tunç stood trial over an article he wrote. But once again, the trial was postponed
29 May 2008
Turkey / Germany: Panel debate about Turkish censorship
On 4 April 2008, protest singer Ferhat Tunç performed with his Kurdish songs and discussed music censorship in Berlin, Germany
08 April 2008
Turkey: Singer Ferhat Tunç's next trial postponed
A Turkish court decided to postpone the next trial of the Turkish-Kurdish singer with five months, until May 2008
17 December 2007
Turkey: Kurdish singer Ferhat Tunç threatened in the virtual world
Singer Ferhat Tunç has never felt as unsafe in Turkey as he does now. Death threats against him are published on the internet, and he faces yet another court case
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Turkey: Singer Ferhat Tunç acquitted
The Turkish-Kurdish singer Ferhat Tunc could leave Izmir High Criminal Court as a free man on 4 October 2007. The Freemuse delegation succeeded it's mission
04 October 2007
Turkey: EU Commission to observe Tunç Trial
Senior Political Advisor Ms Selma Kiliçer from the EU Commission office in Ankara will observe the trial against Ferhat Tunç - and thus join the Freemuse delegation
03 October 2007