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NEWS
10 April 2002

The dangerous music
The adventures of Sulhattin Onen, a minibus driver who, by playing a Kurdish music cassette, had "aided and abetted the PKK". Onen, charged with playing the album ’Soza Feleke’ by the band ’Welat u Zozan’ in his bus recieved 3 years and 9 months prison sentence from the National Security Court.

Story from Kurdish Media

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Kurds struggle to find voice in Turkey
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Turkey: Ferhat Tunç case postponed
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08 December 2004
Turkey: Ferhat Tunç again to appear before court
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20 October 2004
Turkey: Testimony - the trials and arrests of Ferhat Tunç
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19 October 2004
Turkey: Singer Ferhat Tunç arrested
Singer and human rights activist Ferhat Tunç, jailed for alleged separatist incitement, said that he still faces charges even though he was earlier released from jail.
17 July 2003
Turkey: New media law heavily criticised
The Turkish parliament has approved a controversial bill that critics charge will further curtail press freedoms and strengthen media monopolies
16 May 2002
Turkey: Kurdish singer Ferhat Tunç threatened in the virtual world
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01 November 2007
Turkey: Delegation in support of Ferhat Tunç
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27 September 2007
Sivan Perwer
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30 October 2006
Turkey: Government accused of "cultural genocide"
In a 46-pages article, a British author describes the situation in the Kurdish region of Turkey as a “cultural genocide” and states that a new anti-terror law is misused against freedom of expression
27 October 2006
Turkey: New sound of Kurdish music after ban was lifted
Aynur Dogan, once banned because of her Kurdish ethnicity, is perhaps the most recognizable of many Kurdish singers creating a new sound in Turkey
03 April 2006
WOMEX 2004
This year Freemuse presented two conference sessions: "Meet the banned! Music censorship in Turkey" featured Turkish musician Ferhat Tunç, while "9/11 – The world's all out of tune" presented a new book on freedom of musical expression after 9/11
19 October 2004
Turkey: Censorship Past and Present
A historical approach to the nature of censorship. Article.
01 October 2004
Freedom of Expression Awards 2004
The Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards 2004 took place on 22 March. The Music Award went to Daniel Barenboim & Edward Said. The other nominees were Gorki Luis Águila Carrasco (Cuba), Junoon (Pakistan), and Ferhat Tunc (Turkey)
24 March 2004
Turkish reforms music to Kurds ears
The Kurdish hills are alive with the sound of music now that key changes in Turkey have enabled Kurdish musicians to come out of the closet
22 October 2002
Local TV censored
A 200-year-old Kurdish song caused the closure last week of a television station operating in southeastern Turkey, home to the country's Kurdish population. Gun-TV was taken off air on Friday for one month after broadcasting the song
29 March 2002
Appeal from Intl. PEN: Kurdish performers banned
The international arts community is concerned by a disturbing number of cases involving the banning of songs and plays performed in the Kurdish language in Turkey
01 February 2001
Turkey: Arrest order for director of childrens' choir
Three members of Diyarbakir Yenisehir Council Childrens' Choir were acquitted, but the Turkish court issued an arrest order for the director of the choir, Duygu Bayar
23 June 2008
Turkey: Three children stand trial for singing a march in Kurdish
Three members of a Kurdish children's choir face prison charges by Turkish prosecutors for simply singing an old Kurdish song
09 June 2008