Ahmet Kaya
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Ahmet Kaya (28 October 1957 – 16 November 2000) was a Turkish–
Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...
folk singer. Kaya was persecuted by Turkish nationalist celebrities and authorities. Kaya left Turkey in an act of self-
exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...
, and moved to
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, where he would shortly after die of a heart attack. He was granted the Musician of the Year Award in February 1999 during a controversial award ceremony involving Turkey's most popular singers, at which he declared that he wanted to sing a song in
Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...
.


Early life and education

Ahmet Kaya was born in
Malatya Malatya ( hy, Մալաթիա, translit=Malat'ya; Syro-Aramaic ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ku, Meletî; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a large city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city ha ...
as the fifth child of a Kurdish father and a Turkish mother. His father worked at the local textiles factory and the family lived in only one room until in 1959, which was the year the factory began to provide better accommodation to its workers. Ahmet often visited his relatives in the country side where he made his first experiences with music. His uncle Yusuf was a singer and a musician, who inspired him to build his own
bağlama The ''bağlama'' or ''saz'' is a family of plucked string instruments, long-necked lutes used in Ottoman classical music, Turkish folk music, Turkish Arabesque music, Azerbaijani music, Kurdish music, Armenian music and in parts of Syria, Iraq ...
. His musical career was also influenced by his father, who bought him a real bağlama, after he had seen Ahmet giving "concerts" to the families chickens with his self-made one. From that moment on, still at a young age, he held concerts for the fellow workers of his father and his first official concert was in July 1966 at the age of nine. His life circled around music, and he toured the region giving concerts and in later years took up a job at a record store where worked after school. By 1977 the family had settled to Istanbul, where he and his father received employment at a phone company which was owned by
Malatya Malatya ( hy, Մալաթիա, translit=Malat'ya; Syro-Aramaic ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ku, Meletî; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a large city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city ha ...
ns. He served in the Turkish army as a musician in the Army orchestra in
Gelibolu Gelibolu, also known as Gallipoli (from el, Καλλίπολις, ''Kallipolis'', "Beautiful City"), is the name of a town and a district in Çanakkale Province of the Marmara Region, located in Eastern Thrace in the European part of Turkey on th ...
and after he married in 1979 he and his wife settled into an apartment in
Sarıyer Sarıyer () is the northernmost district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the European side of the city. It consists of the neighbourhoods of Rumelifeneri, Tarabya, Yeniköy, İstinye, Emirgan and Rumelihisarı. Sarıyer also administers the Black Sea c ...
, Istanbul.Silverman, Reuben (2015), p.146 After the military coup in 1980, his environment became dire as several of his colleagues were arrested and sent to prison. He and his wife divorced in 1981.


Musical career

He played as a musician in the band of
Ferdi Tayfur Ferdi Tayfur (; born Ferdi Tayfur Turanbayburt, 15 November 1945) is a Turkish Ottoman music artist, actor, director, songwriter and screenwriter. He was born in Düzce neighbourhood of Adana, Turkey and he has led a successful career in Arabes ...
, through which he got to know the organized crime leader "Kürt Idris" (Özbir). In a moment when he was giving the son of Kürt Idris baglama classes, he was arrested due to a gun which was found in the office of the mafia boss. After his release from prison three months later, he staged concerts with Hüseyin Demirel, and the two soon approached the record label who was to produce their music. The musical relationship with Demirel terminated in tatters as the success did not follow the release of their first album, but Ahmet married his second wife Gülten Hayaloğlu, whom he got to know through
Selda Bağcan Selda Bağcan (; born December 14, 1948) is a Turkish folk singer-songwriter, guitarist, and music producer. Early life Selda Bağcan was born in 1948 in the western Turkish town of Muğla. Her father was a veterinarian medician of Macedonian ...
, a well-known Turkish left-wing musician. Following the improvement of his financial situation thanks to the success of his fourth album released in 1986, he and his wife moved to the Beyoğlu neighborhood in a house close to the
Galatasaray High school Galatasaray High School ( tr, Galatasaray Lisesi, french: Lycée de Galatasaray), established in what was then Constantinople and is now Istanbul, in 1481, is the oldest high school in Turkey. It is also the second-oldest Turkish educational in ...
. With the success and a close musical relationship with Yusuf, his brother-in-law, and author of several of his songs his life became more organized and he became a father for a second time. Following his move to larger apartment in the fancy neighborhood in Valideçeşme, he was the target of criticism from parts within the left-wing movement who had brought him to this stage of his life. Still, due to the left-wing political aspect of his songs, he came to the attention of the Turkish Government. Following public statements regarding his lifestyle by his brother-in-law Yusuf, they parted ways. His financial situation and his political statements were still an issue for the left-wing movement as well as for the Turkish authorities, who in 1992 also briefly confiscated a
Mercedes Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
of his, to which he responded that he could ride on a donkey as well if the Government wanted it. In 1994 he released his best known album so far, ''Şarkılarım Dağlara'', which included songs focusing of the Kurdish-Turkish conflict between the
Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...
(PKK) and the Turkish army raging in
Turkish Kurdistan Turkish Kurdistan or Northern Kurdistan () refers to the southeastern part of Turkey, where Kurds form the predominant ethnic group. The Kurdish Institute of Paris estimates that there are 20 million Kurds living in Turkey, the majority of the ...
. In 1990s he and his wife established the GAK label, but even though they signed well known musicians the project was not crowned with a lasting success.


Awards ceremony incident

On 11 February 1999 during the televised annual music awards ceremony at which he was to be named Musician of the Year, Kaya said that he wanted to produce music in his native language, as he was of Kurdish background. He also announced that he had recorded a song in Kurdish (''Karwan'', released on the ''Hoşçakalın Gözüm'' album in 2001) and intended to produce a video to accompany it. Following this announcement, he faced massive opposition from Turkish people and celebrities in the event. First,
Serdar Ortaç Serdar Ortaç (born 16 February 1970) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer. He is known as one of the most popular singers in Turkish pop-music history. Personal life Serdar Ortaç married Irish model Chloe Loughnan in 2014. Loughnan a ...
started singing a song with modified lyrics to boost nationalist feelings, then people in the ceremony started singing 10th Year March. Later, Kaya was attacked by celebrities. Kaya's wife describes the attack as "All of a sudden, all of those chic women and men, they all turned into monsters, grabbing forks and knives and throwing them at us, insulting, booing. Imagine the atmosphere changing in just five minutes, almost a
Kafkaesque Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It typi ...
transformation."


Exile and death

The incident led to a prosecution case which made him leave Turkey. In March 2000 he was sentenced in absentia to three years and nine months in prison on the charge of spreading separatist propaganda. Later, however, the mass media allegation showing Kaya in front of the poster was proven to be forged. He died from a heart attack in Paris in 2000, at the age of 43, and is buried in
Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (french: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise ; formerly , "East Cemetery") is the largest cemetery in Paris, France (). With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Notable figures ...
. He is buried in item number 71.


Vandalism of grave

In November 2021, visitors of his grave found it to be recently attacked by unknown perpetrator(s).


Discography

* '' Ağlama Bebeğim'' (1985) * ''Acılara Tutunmak'' (1985) * ''Şafak Türküsü'' (1986) * ''An Gelir'' (1986) * ''Yorgun Demokrat'' (1987) * ''Başkaldırıyorum'' (1988) * ''Resitaller-1'' (1989) * ''İyimser Bir Gül – Kod Adı Bahtiyar'' (1989) * ''Resitaller-2'' (1990) * ''Sevgi Duvarı'' (1990) * ''Başım Belada'' (1991) * ''Dokunma Yanarsın'' (1992) * ''Tedirgin'' (1993) * ''Şarkılarım Dağlara'' (1994) * ''Beni Bul'' (1995) * ''Yıldızlar ve Yakamoz'' (1996) * ''Dosta Düşmana Karşı'' (1998) Posthumous: * ''Hoşçakalın Gözüm'' (2001) * ''Biraz da Sen Ağla'' (2003) * ''Kalsın Benim Davam'' (2005) * ''Gözlerim Bin Yaşında '' (2006)


Posthumous awards

In June 2012 the Turkish Association of Magazine Journalists awarded Ahmet Kaya its Special Prize. In October 2013 Ahmet Kaya was given the Grand Presidential Prize in Culture and Arts in the music category on the day that would have been his 57th birthday.


References


Further reading

*
Official Biography of Ahmet Kaya in English


External links



*
Interview with Gülten Kaya, Ahmet Kaya's wife
*
His biographical information by Kurdish Institute of Paris
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaya, Ahmet 1957 births 2000 deaths Kurdish male singers Turkish-language singers Turkish people of Kurdish descent Kurdish-language singers Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery 20th-century Turkish male singers