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Cem Karaca (April 5, 1945 - February 8, 2004) was a prominent Turkish rock musician and one of the most important figures in the Anatolian rock movement.
Biography
He was the only child of İrma Felekyan (Toto Karaca),a popular opera,
thatre and movie actress, and Mehmet İbrahim Karaca of Azeri origin.His
first group was called Dynamites and was a classic rock cover band.
Later he joined Jaguars, an Elvis Presley cover band. In 1967, he
started to write his own music, forming the band Apaşlar (Apachees),
his first Turkish-language group. In 1969, Karaca and bass-player
Serhan Karabay left Apaşlar and started an original Anatolian group
called Kardaşlar (Brothers).
In 1972, Karaca joined the group Moğollar (Mongols) and wrote one of
his best-known songs, "Namus Belası". However, Cahit Berkay, the leader
of Moğollar, wanted an international name for his band, and he left for
France to take the group to another level. Karaca, who wanted to
continue his Anatolian beat sound, left Moğollar and started his own
band Dervişan (Dervishes) in 1974. Karaca and Dervişan sang poetic and
progressive songs.
In the 1970s, Turkey's image was damaged by political violence between
supporters of the left and the right, separatist movements and the rise
of Islamism. As the country fell into chaos, the government suspected
Cem Karaca of involvement. At times he was accused of treason for being
a separatist thinker and a Marxist-Leninist. The Turkish government
tried to portray Karaca as a man, who was unknowingly writing songs to
start a revolution. One politician was quoted as saying, "Karaca is
simply calling citizens to a bloody war against the state." Dervişan
was ultimately dissolved at the end of 1977. He later founded in 1978
Edirdahan, an acronym for "from Edirne to Ardahan"; the westernmost and
the easternmost provinces of Turkey. He recorded one LP with Edirdahan.
In early 1979, he left for West Germany for business reasons. Turkey
continued to spin out of control with military curfews and eventually a
military coup on September 12, 1980. General Kenan Evren took over the
government and temporarily closed all the nation's political parties.
After the coup, many intellectual people, including writers, artists
and journalists, were arrested. A warrant was issued for the arrest of
Karaca by the government of Turkey.
The state invited Karaca back to the country several times, but Karaca,
not knowing what would happen upon his return, decided not to come back.
While he was in Germany, his father died, but he could not return to
attend the funeral. After some time, the Turkish government decided to
strip Cem Karaca of his Turkish citizenship, keeping the arrest warrant
active.
Several years later, in 1987, the prime minister and leader of the
Turkish Motherland Party, Turgut Özal, issued an amnesty for Karaca.
Shortly afterwards, he returned to Turkey. His return also brought a
new album by him, Merhaba Gençler ve Her zaman Genç Kalanlar ("Hello
Young Ones and Everyone Who'd Always Felt Young"), one of his most
powerful works. His return home was greeted happily by his fans, but
during his absence, Karaca had lost the youthful audience and acquired
few new listeners. He died on February 8, 2004 and was interred at
Karacaahmet Cemetery in Üsküdar district of Istanbul.
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