Turkey / Germany: Panel debate about Turkish censorship
Protest singer Ferhat Tunç performed with his Kurdish songs and discussed music censorship in Berlin, Germany
On 4 April 2008, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung organised a panel discussion with the title 'Freedom of words – Art of Freedom' ('Freiheit des Wortes – Kunst der Freiheit / Sözün özgürlügü – Azadlıgın sanatı') which reflected on freedom of expression issues in Germany and in Turkey.
Apart from the Kurdish and Turkish musician Ferhat Tunç, the panel consisted of member of the European Parliament Cem Özdemir (Die Grünen/EFA), the actor Nuray Sahin and professor Udo Steinbach from Phillips University of Marburg who is an Islam expert. The session was moderated by editor Cem Dalaman from Radio Multikulti.
Eight months prison sentences were issued by Turkish authorities to two police officers who beat up a 28-year-old café worker for playing an Ahmet Kaya song
Kurdish artist Rojda was arrested for propaganda for an illegal organisation because of singing a Kurdish song entitled Heval Kamuran. She was released within a couple of hours
Tunceli Prosecution Office has filed a case against folk singer Pınar Sağ and poet Mehmet Özcan charging them with two years prison sentences for "praising crime".
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
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
On 21 March 2009, a broadcasting editor of a local radio station Dünya in Adana, southern Turkey, was acquitted in a trial brought for the airing of the Kurdish song 'Keçe Kurdan'
Singer and tv host Bülent Ersoy was acquitted of charges against her for having made anti-military remarks during a tv programme broadcasted in February 2008.
Turkish musician Fuat Talay explains (in Danish language) about his personal experiences with music censorship in Turkey which led to his imprisonment and exile
Baglama-player and singer Fuat Talay speaks about how the Turkish authorities kept him in a police station's cellar for 23 days, and later on convicted him to 12 years in prison
