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Yılmaz Güney, (born Yılmaz Pütün, 1 April 1937 – 9 September 1984) was a -Kurdish^[1][2] film director, scenarist, novelist and actor from Turkey.^[3] Many of his works are devoted to the plight of ordinary, working class people in Turkey.

Biography[link]

Yılmaz Güney was born in 1937 in the Yenice county of Adana. His father was a Zaza-Kurd from Siverek, and his mother was a Kurmanci-Kurd from Varto, Turkey. His parents migrated to Adana to work as cotton field laborers. As a result of his family background young Yılmaz grew among the working class poor, which formed a strong background for his future works which generally focused on a realistic portrayal of down and out people in Turkey. Güney studied law and economics at the universities in Ankara and Istanbul, but by the age of 21 he found himself actively involved in film-making. As Yeşilçam, the Turkish studio system, grew in strength, a handful of directors, including Atıf Yılmaz, began to use the cinema as a means of addressing the problems of the people. Mostly, state-sanctioned melodramas, war films and play adaptations had previously played in Turkish theaters, but these new filmmakers began to fill the screens with more artistic, personal and relevant pictures of Turkish/Kurdish life. Yılmaz Güney was one of the most popular names to emerge from the Young Turkish Cinema, a gruff-looking young actor who earned the moniker "Çirkin Kral," ("the Ugly King") or (pasha nashrin) in Kurdish. After working as an apprentice screenwriter for and assistant to Atıf Yılmaz, Güney soon began appearing in as many as 20 films a year and became Turkey's one of the most popular actors.

Although the early 1960s brought problems for freedom to Turkey, Güney was imprisoned in 1961 for 18 months for publishing a "communist" novel. The country's political situation and Güney's relationship with the authorities only became more tense in the ensuing years. Not content with his star status atop the Turkey's film industry, Güney began directing his own pictures in 1965. By 1968 he had formed his own production company, Güney Filmcilik. Over the next few years, the titles of his films mirrored the feelings of the people of Turkey: Umut (Hope, 1970); Ağıt (Elegy, 1972); Acı (Pain, 1971); The Hopeless (1971).

After 1972, however, Güney would spend most of his life in prison. Arrested for harboring anarchist students, Güney was jailed during preproduction of Zavallılar (The Miserable, 1975), and before completing Endişe (Worry, 1974), which was finished in 1974 by Güney's assistant, Şerif Gören. This was a cherished role that Gören would repeat over the next dozen years, directing several scripts that Güney wrote laboriously while behind bars.

Released from prison in 1974 as part of a general amnesty, Güney was re-arrested that same year for shooting a judge Sefa Mutlu, the public prosecutor of Yumurtalık district in Adana Province, to death in a night club as a result of a drunken row^[4] and given a prison sentence of 19 years. During this stretch of incarceration, his most successful screenplays were Sürü (The Herd, 1978) and Düşman (The Enemy, 1979), both directed by Zeki Ökten. Düşman won an Honourable Mention at the 30th Berlin International Film Festival in 1980.^[5]

After escaping from prison in 1981 and fleeing to France, Güney won the Palme d'Or at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival for his film Yol, whose director in the field was once again Şerif Gören. It was not until 1983 that Güney resumed directing, telling a brutal tale of imprisoned children in his final film, Duvar (The Wall, 1983), made in France with the cooperation of the French government.

Exile and death[link]

Yılmaz Güney died of gastric cancer in 1984, in Paris, France.

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

Director[link]

See also[link]

• List of Turkish film directors

References[link]

External links[link]

• Yilmaz Güney at the Internet Movie Database
• Interviews and information (French)
• Great Directors profile of Yilmaz Guney, Senses of Cinema

Hande Ataizi (born 2 September 1973 in Bursa) is a Turkish actress.

Biography[link]

Hande Ataizi began acting professionally at Yıldız Kenter's Kenter Theatre. She won the Golden Orange for Best Actress in 1996 for her performance in İrfan Tözüm's Mum Kokulu Kadınlar (Candle Scented Women).^[1] Hande is an iconic figure in Turkish TV and cinema for having been one of the first female artists to excel during the early 1990s when the first private TV channels began experimenting with content.

Filmography[link]

• Yaz Evi (1993)
• Sahte Dünyalar (1995)
• Kaldırım Çiçeği (1996)
• Mum Kokulu Kadınlar (1996)
• Böyle mi Olacaktı (1997)
• Ruhsar (1997)
• Yüzleşme (1999)
• Kahpe Bizans (1999)
• Melekler Evi (2000)
• Vaka-i Zaptiye (2002)
• Bayanlar Baylar (2002)
• Anne Babamla Evlensene (2002)
• Estağfurullah Yokuşu (2003)
• Melekler Adası (2004)
• Sev Kardeşim (2006)
• Kara Duvak (2007)
• Çılgın Dersane (2007)
• Ece (2008)
• Masum Kadınlar (2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Hande Ataizi at the Internet Movie Database

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Nurgül Yeşilçay, née Gültekin, (March 26, 1976) is a Turkish stage and film actress.

Biography[link]

Nurgül Yeşilçay was born in Afyonkarahisar, Turkey in 1976. She studied drama at the State Conservatoire of Anadolu University in Eskişehir. Since her graduation, she has performed several major roles for the stage, including Ophelia in Hamlet and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Theatre aside, she shot to prominence as the lead in, among others, three record-breaking Turkish television dramas. She made her screen debut in 2001 in Semir Arslanyürek's feature Şellale, (The Waterfall).

She won the "Best Actress" award at the 45th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival.

Filmography[link]

• 7 Husbands for Hurmuz'' (7 Kocalı Hürmüz) (2009), as "Hürmüz"
• Vicdan (2008), as Aydanur
• Yaşamın Kıyısında (Auf der anderen Seite a.k.a. "The Edge of Heaven") (2007), as Ayten
• Adem'in Trenleri (2007), as Hacer
• Anlat İstanbul (2004), as Uyuyan Güzel Saliha
• Eğreti Gelin (2004), as Kostak Emine
• Asmalı Konak - Hayat (2003), as Bahar Karadağ
• Mumya Firarda (2002), as Fatıma
• Şellale (2001), as Nergis
• Herşey Çok Güzel Olacak (1998), as Hemşire

TV series[link]

• Sensiz Olmaz (2011) Feryal
• Aşk ve Ceza (2010) - Yasemin
• Ezo Gelin (2006), as Ezo
• Belalı Baldız (2005), as Arzu Parlak
• Melekler Adası (2004), as Şerbet
• Asmalı Konak (2002), as Bahar Karadağ
• 90-60-90 (2001), as Deniz
• İkinci Bahar (1999), as Gülsüm

Awards[link]

• Golden Boll Award for Best Actress (Borrowed Bride) 2005
• Sadri Alışık Acting Awards for Best Actress (Adam and the Devil) 2008
• Contemporary Screen Actors Guild Awards (ÇASOD) for Best Actress (Adam and the Devıl-The Edge of Heaven) 2008
• Golden Orange Award for Best Actress (Conscience) 2008

References[link]

• Nurgül Yeşilçay's official website
• Nurgül Yeşilçay at the Internet Movie Database
• Biyografi.info - Biography of Nurgül Yeşilçay (Turkish)
• Sinematurk.com - Biography of Nurgül Yeşilçay (Turkish)

External links[link]

• Nurgül Yeşilçay's official website
• Turkcediziler.com - Belalı Baldız

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Ahmet Kaya (October 28, 1957^[1] – November 16, 2000) Kurdish singer from Malatya, Turkey, who died on November 16, 2000 in exile in Paris.^[2] He formerly sang in Turkish. Some of his most popular songs include Ayrılık Vakti, Söyle, Ağladıkça, Oy Benim Canım, Birazdan Kudurur Deniz, Arka Mahalle, Nereden Bileceksiniz, Hani Benim Gençliğim, Yakarım Geceleri and Şafak Türküsü.

Career[link]

Ahmet Kaya was the fifth and last child of his Kurdish father, who had immigrated from Adıyaman to Malatya, and Turkish mother.^{[citation needed]} He first encountered music at the age of six when his father bought him a bağlama for his birthday. Ahmet Kaya worked for a while as a taxi driver in Istanbul before becoming well known as a singer in the mid-1980s.

His first album, Ağlama Bebeğim, was released in 1985. His popularity continued to rise into the 1990s when in 1994 he released the album Şarkılarım Dağlara which was sold a record 2.8 million copies. All of his 1990 albums to chart-toppers.

During his career he recorded approximately 20 albums and was known for his protest music and positions on social justice. Recurring themes in his songs are love towards one's mother, sacrifice, and hope.

Awards controversy[link]

At 10 February 1999 televised annual music awards ceremony, SHOW TV, at which he was to be named Musician of the Year, he spoke out about his Kurdish background and said that he wanted to produce music in his native Kurdish as naturally as he does in Turkish. He 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. Because of making the announcement he was treated like a monster by some famous singers, actors, producers, journalists after his talk. This was led by Serdar Ortac who years later apologized for his behavior and the crowd also started singing the Turkish national anthem. This was an incident which led to a prosecution case which made him leave Turkey.^[3]

Exile and death[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Kaya went to France in June 1999 escaping various charges arising from his political views.^{[citation needed]} Among them were the accusations that he had performed in front of a poster for the Kurdistan Workers Party at a 1993 concert in Germany, and that he had made statements in support of Abdullah Öcalan.^[4] In March 2000 he was sentenced in absentia to three years and nine months in prison on the charge of spreading separatist propaganda.^{[citation needed]} Later, however, the visual media central to allegations demonstrating Kaya in front of the poster was proven to be forged.^[5][6] He died of a heart attack in Paris in 2000, at the age of 43, and is buried in Père Lachaise cemetery.

Discography[link]

References[link]

• CNN's report about his death
• Interview with Ahmet Kaya
• Interview with Gülten Kaya, Ahmet Kaya's wife
• Documentary about Ahmet Kaya