Sürgün (Crimean Tatar for "exile") refers to the state-organized forcible deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944 to the Uzbek SSR and other parts of the Soviet Union. A symbol of Sürgün is a steam engine.

The projects of expelling the Crimean Tatars from the Crimea emerged several times in Russian ruling circles long before the Crimea was annexed by Russia in 1783 though they were never implemented. In 1944 under the false pretext of alleged mass collaboration of the Crimean Tatars with the Nazis during the Nazi occupation of the Crimea in 1941-1944. the Soviet government decided the total eviction of the Crimean Tatar people from the Crimea on orders of Joseph Stalin and Lavrentiy Beria.

The deportation began on 18 May 1944 in all Crimean inhabited localities. More than 32,000 NKVD troops participated in this action. The forced deportees were given only 30 minutes to gather personal belongings, after which they were loaded onto cattle trains and moved out of Crimea. 193,865 Crimean Tatars were deported, 151,136 of them to Uzbek SSR, 8,597 to Mari ASSR, 4,286 to Kazakh SSR, the rest 29,846 to the various oblasts of Russian SFSR. At the same moment, most of the Crimean Tatar men who were fighting in the ranks of the Red Army were demobilized and sent into forced labor camps in Siberia and in the Ural mountain region.

Ömer Zülfü Livanelioğlu (b. 1946 Ilgın, Turkey) is a popular Turkish folk musician (singer and composer), a novelist, newspaper columnist and a film director who has been highly popular for decades. He is also a prominent left-wing and social-democrat politician and was a member of the Turkish parliament for one term.

He is most known for his fusion of Turkish folk music with contemporary music, in much the same way as Bob Dylan and his contemporaries in the United States. His 1997 Ankara concert was attended by no less than 500 thousand people. His collaborations with Mikis Theodorakis of Greece have been noted as a gesture of bringing together the two countries. Livaneli has been a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador since 1996.

Sezen Aksu (Turkish pronunciation: [seˈzen ˈaksu]; born: Fatma Sezen Yıldırım; July 13, 1954 in Denizli) is a Turkish pop music singer, song-writer and producer who sold over 40 million albums worldwide. Her nicknames include the "Queen of Turkish Pop" and Minik Serçe ("Little Sparrow").

Aksu's influence on Turkish pop and world music has continued since her debut in 1975, and has been reinforced by her patronage of and collaboration with many other musicians, including Sertab Erener, Şebnem Ferah, Aşkın Nur Yengi, Hande Yener, and Levent Yüksel. Her work with Tarkan resulted in continental hits like "Şımarık" and "Şıkıdım" and her collaboration with Goran Bregović widened her international audience.

Sezen Aksu was born in Sarayköy, Turkey. Her family moved to İzmir when she was 3 years old and she spent her childhood and early youth there. Aksu's parents discouraged her singing because they wanted her to have a steady profession as a doctor or engineer. She used to wait until they left the house and sing on the family's balcony. After finishing high school, she began studying at the local agricultural institute, but left college to concentrate on music.

Ahmet Koç is a bağlama artist from Turkey.

He appeared and played bağlama with the female singer Şebnem Paker at Eurovision Song Contest 1997, in Dublin, where they represented Turkey and came in 3rd place. His previous works include his own instrumental works "Yedi Karanfil 3", "Yediveren Anadolu" and "Yol Türküleri, as well as his contributions to a multitude of other artists' albums as music director or bağlama artist. Ahmet Koç continues his career at the Turkish Ministry of Culture as bağlama artist, arranger and musicolog.

In the spring of 2005, he released his instrumental album "Paradoks" (Paradox), in which he played international pop and rock classics with his bağlama. Some of the songs included in his album were: “Hasta Siempre”, "Fragile", “My Way”, “Surf Rider”, ”Hotel California” “The Godfather theme”, “Shape Of My Heart”, “My Heart Will Go On”.

In the last quarter of 2006, Ahmet Koç released his fifth album, the Sağnak (means heavy rain in Turkish). This new effort is a double disc pack (one part is for Turkish songs and the other part -same as the Paradoks- is for international hits). The first single released from the album is Görevimiz Tehlike (Mission: Impossible theme).

Rafet El Roman (born August 25, 1968 in Havsa, Edirne, Turkey), is a pop star in his home country. He got his name from a fictional character named "El Romano".

When Rafet's parents moved to Germany in 1970, he lived with his grandmother until he was 7 years old at Uzunköprü Ömerbey. After he finished first grade at primary school in the village, he was sent to his parents in Germany. He completed his education in Germany. He speaks German, English, Italian and Turkish. He started writing his first lyrics at 16 years old.

In 1984 he contacted Stefan Somogyfoki from Midnight Entertainment and in 1987 he played the leading role in the Fantasy Movie Defender. At this time he learned a lot about film making and acting. Also, he started to co-direct his own fighting scenes in movies. Everyone could see his talent for acting and the art of making movies. At this time he started to write his first songs Benimlen and Seni Seviyorum.

He gave his first stage performances in 1988. In 1992, he was voted "Best of the Year" by Saarlaendischer Rundfunk Radio. In 1994, he was awarded with Media Artist Award in Frankfurt Cultural Festival. In August 1995, he returned to Turkey and released his first solo album. The album Gençliğin Gözyaşı (The Tears of the Youth) sold over one million having hits like Sorma Neden, Seni Seviyorum and Amerika. In October 1997, he released his second album En Güzel Günler Senin Olsun (Have The Most Beautiful Days). In 1998, he released his first solo album in Europe. In 1998, he played in the film Propaganda with major stars of the Turkish cinema history such as Kemal Sunal and Metin Akpınar.