Danish Dari German Spanish French Turkish Arabic
Click here to go to start page Click here to go to start page
Search Sort content by country/region Sort content by artist Sort content by subject
News stories world-wide
About music censorship
About Freemuse
Publications
Study room
Articles
Speeches
Radio programmes
Music albums
Books
Films
Freemusepedia - History of music censorship before 2001
Activities
Links
Press room

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

Go to top
Read more on freemuse.org

Turkey: Ferhat Tunç in court once again
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
16 December 2011
Turkey: Prisoners punished with visitor-ban for singing a folk song
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
12 September 2011
Singer and politician Ferhat Tunç receives violence threats
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
11 May 2011
Turkey: New court case against Ferhat Tunç is ‘copy-pasted’
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
30 March 2011
Music Freedom Day: Meanwhile in Turkey, musicians are persecuted
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
03 March 2011
Turkey: Ferhat Tunç receives 25 days prison sentence
The Kurdish-Turkish singer Ferhat Tunç was sentenced to 25 days in prison for a speech he made during a concert in 2006
27 January 2011
Turkey: Supreme Court re-opens case against Ferhat Tunç
Going to court is becoming a repeatative nightmare for the Kurdish singer Ferhat Tunç
04 January 2011
Turkey: Ferhat Tunç on trial again
Singer Ferhat Tunç was first acquitted, but then Chamber 9 of the Appeal Court rejected the decision, and Tunç will now be tried again.
31 December 2010
Turkey: Ferhat Tunc acquitted and immediately charged again
One day after the court in Diyabarkir acquitted Ferhat Tunç the Istanbul police turned up at his home today to inform the singer that he will be charged in two new cases
05 November 2010
Turkey: Ferhat Tunç acquitted
Freemuse Award winner, Ferhat Tunç was acquitted this morning from the Diyarbarkir Criminal Court in Turkey
04 November 2010
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
09 November 2009
Turkey: Pop star both condemned and praised for political statement
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