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Testimony: the trials and arrests of Ferhat Tunç
Read the personal testimony of Turkish musician and human rights activist Ferhat Tunç, who has been banned and imprisoned several times by the authorities.
Tunç will be among the speakers when Freemuse is hosting two conference sessions at WOMEX 2004.
2003: While the acting ruling party AKP was reforming some laws in order to adapt the Turkish legislation to European standards I was arrested after a concert in Milas/Bodrum and had to spend 8 days in prison. The arrest was justified by accusing me of having welcomed 40.000 concert visitors with the words Good day PKK. That was definitely not true and turned out as a conspiracy of the police. Although this complot became known in the Turkey, the people in charge havent been called to account for that. Thats why I instituted proceedings at the European Court of Justice for Human Rights. In the summer 2003 I gave a speech for peace during my concert in Aydin. Because of this speech I was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment without probation. I have never been interrogated to this affair, so I filed an objection at the European Court of Justice a second time. Furthermore a trial was instituted because of my column that is published in the news paper Özgür Gündem fortnightly. The recent trial concerns to an article about Leyla Zama. According to this article I am accused of having offended the courts that have jurisdiction over the safety of the state (DGM). Likelihood I will still be sentenced and be banned from publishing in the news paper, in which the article was printed. At the time when the bans on Kurdish culture and language were lifted, I made a video clip to a song I recorded in my Kurdish mother tongue. This clip was picked out as a central theme and discussed in the late news of different Turkish private television stations, but without ever being shown on the screen. The clip itself had Turkish captions, why I was exposed to attacks and threats of conservative and racist forces, especially of the chairman of the state radio and TV supervisory board (RTÜK). When the threats of the partisans of the far-right Grey Wolfs (MHP) were increasing, I made an application for personal security at the public competent authority. Although the threats to kill me took place in public, the application was rejected. 1994: After a concert in Diyarbakir a task force of the Turkish army stormed the scenery, hit me with riot sticks, trampled on me and threatened to kill me. I could leave Diyarbakir without being arrested merely because of the personal efforts of Mehmet Mogultays, who was Secretary of State for Employment at that time.
Because of my support of the so-called Saturday Mothers who protest in front of the Galatsaray Gymnasium in Istanbul every Saturday, I was also hit and arrested several times. 1992: During a concert in Istanbul taking place in front of an audience of 10.000 people, the police stormed the stage and urged me to interrupt the concert. But finally the police was forced to leave the stage again because of loud protests in the audience. The day after a second concert should take place at the same location. The police refused the visitors admittance with riot sticks. Moreover hundreds of visitors were arrested besides me. We spent two days all together in one prison cell, were interrogated and released again. A similar procedure repeated itself in different places several times:
1995 Ankara, Denizli, Burdur, Istanbul etc.
1994 Istanbul, Izmir, Edirne
1992 Istanbul, Diyarbakir, Izmir
1991 Istanbul, Kirikkale, Kayseri
1990 Istanbul (several times)
1989 Istanbul, Diyarbakir
1988 Edime, Kayseri, Ankara
1987 Ankara, Kayseri, Eskisehir, Istanbul
1986: Arrested for political reasons. One week of interrogations, degradations and torture in the notorious prison camp DAL. Consequently my concerts were not permitted systematically and my records were forbidden and confiscated as well in many regions of Turkey. The forbidden concerts involved further arrests of several days executed by the police, whose treatment was very humiliating.
I have published 18 records, but my work is still censored and I am regarded as a potential criminal in my home country. The public radio and television stations do not broadcast my work, merely because of my political and oppositional stance. The Turkish private stations pursue a similar policy as well. Thus the above mentioned Kurdish video clip hasnt been shown by any of the Turkish television stations up to now. Ferhat Tunç
Turkey, 2004 Background information:
Ferhat Tunc interview (Sept. 2001) |
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Ferhat Tunç
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Biography of Ferhat Tunc
Ferhat Tunc was born in 1964 as the first of six children in an Alevi family. He grew up in a small hamlet called Tulic belonging to the village Babaocagi in the province Tunceli. Tunceli/Dersim is imbedded to the south of the ranges of Mercan- and Cemaldaglari, which flanks to the north-western side of Kurdistan. His Kurd origin and affiliation to the Alevi religion is for him the inspiration and mission as well as composer, singer, author and political human being.
During primary school time his father already lived in Germany as guest-worker. During grammar school time he often performed as a singer at events of left-wing organizations and besides played his first performance to a full house at Arkadas-Sinema of Tunceli. Since then he is called The little Ozan of Dersim.
The seventies were determined by political conflicts between the fascist Grey Wolfs, the police and the army on the one side and on the other side students, the working class and left wing intellectuals. The state sided with the right wing. Against this background he emigrated in 1979 to Germany, without finishing his grammar school education. There he visited the evening school to learn German.
In 1982 he recorded his debut album Kizilirmak in a small sound studio in Bremen. In the same year he got to know the American musician Darnel Sumers with whom he set up together with three German and one Greek friend his first band. The impressions of this new period of life flew into his album Bu Yürek Bu Sevda Var Iken that was released in 1984.
After 6 months he abandoned the voice study and preferred to go on tour in Germany. He gave many concerts for an audience consisting of mainly Turkish Kurdish people living in Germany. Thats why he couldnt return to the Turkey, where he must expect persecution by the military government, especially since the political situation had still got worse after the military coup on 12th of September 1980.
In 1985 he returned to Turkey for the first time since he had left his home country. As soon as he arrived he was immediately arrested and brought into the prison camp DAL in Ankara.
Some of his lyrics are written in the language of the Zaza and Kurmanci, which are regarded as languages of the Kurds. His concerts became meetings of the resistance movement. Besides he supported strikes of the working class, the democratization of Turkey, the environmentalism and the free university of Istanbul, which practices critical teachings and research. He is also an active member of IHD, an association for human rights.
His apparent oppositional attitude caused several arrests and trials in the following years. In 2003 he went on tour with his new album Nerd sin Ey Kardeslik throughout Turkey. The concerts were themed songs for peace.
Since 2003 he has been working together with the film-maker Umur Hozatli on the film Perperik, which tells the story about a life as Kurd in the Turkey .This will be the first movie that is televised only in Kurdish.
Discography:
1. "Kızılırmak" D.S.B. BRD-1982
2. "Bu Yürek Bu Sevda Var İken" [Als da war diese Liebe, dieses Herz] D.S.B. BRD-1984 (Ses Plak Istanbul 1996)
3. "Vurgunum Hasretine" [Mein Wuchern mit der Sehnsucht] Süper plak / Güney 1986
4. "Ay Işığı Yana Yana"[Gen Mondeslicht seit an seit] - Ses Plak Istanbul 1987
5. "Yaşam Direnmektir" [Leben ist Widerstand] Özbir Istanbul 1988
6. "İstanbul Konserleri-1" [Istanbul Konzerte I] - Ses Plak Istanbul 1988
7. "Vuruldu" [Geschlagen] Güney Istanbul 1989
8. "Gül Vatan" [Rose Vaterland] - Güner Istanbul 1990
9. "Ateş Gibi" [Feuergleich] - Bayşu Istanbul 1991
10. "İstanbul Konserleri-2" [Istanbul Konzerte II] - Güner Istanbul 1992
11. "Firari Sevdam" [Flucht meiner Liebe] Bayşu Istanbul 1993
12. "Özlemin Dağ Rüzgarı" [Bergwind der Sehnsucht] Bayşu Istanbul 1994
13. "Kanı Susturun" [Bringt das Blut zum Schweigen] Bay Müzik Istanbul 1995
14. "Kayıp" [Vermisst] Ses Plak Istanbul 1997
15. "Kavgamın Çiçeği" [Die Blumen meines Kampfes] Prestij Müsik 1999
16. "Her Mevsim Bahardır" [Jede Jahreszeit ist Frühling] - Prestij Müsik 2000
17. "Şarkılarım Tanıktır" [Meine Lieder sind Zeuge] Sistem Müzik Istanbul 2002
18. "Nerdesin Ey Kardeşlik" [Wo bist Du, oh Brüderlichkeit] Sistem Müzik Istanbul 2003 |
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