The bağlama (Turkish: bağlama, from bağlamak, "to tie", pronounced [baːɫaˈma]) is a stringed musical instrument shared by various cultures in the Eastern Mediterranean, Near East, and Central Asia.

It is sometimes referred to as the saz (from the Persian ساز‎, meaning a kit or set), although the term "saz" actually refers to a family of plucked string instruments, long-necked lutes used in Ottoman classical music, Turkish folk music, Azeri music, Kurdish music, Assyrian music, and in parts of Syria, Iraq and the Balkan countries. Lutes have been first present in ancient Greece since the Akkadian era, where an ancient Greek Pandura appears to have been played by a muse seated on a rock, since the Mantineia marble (4th century BC).

The bağlama is the most common of these, and is often called by the generic name; according to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "the terms "bağlama" and "saz" are used somewhat interchangeably in Turkey." Like the Western lute and the Middle-Eastern oud, it has a deep round back, but a much longer neck. It can be played with a plectrum or with a fingerpicking style known as şelpe.

Ali Öztürk (born 12 April 1987 in Develi, Kayseri) is a Turkish professional footballer. He currently plays as a striker for Balıkesirspor in the Turkish Second League. He started his career in Altinoluk Belediyespor and then Balıkesir Belediyespor. After then he transferred to Balıkesirspor in youth team then signed his first professional contract in there.

He was born in Kayseri but spent long time in Altınoluk, Balıkesir.

His contract will end in 31 March 2013 by his profile in Turkey Football Federation.

Hakan Altun (born 1972) is a Turkish singer and songwriter.

He was born in Istanbul. After finishing primary school, he attended the academy of music, where he completed his secondary, high and university education, thanks to his grandfather Hafız Zeki Altun. After graduation, he continued his music studies, earning a master's degree on Traditional Turkish Music. In the second year of his studies, he quit school and began his career in the Edirne State Choir as a lute artist. Before his military service, he performed in the most popular clubs of Istanbul. Then, he went to Ankara for his mandatory military service. There, Hakun Altun began to work on his first, self-titled album. He released a second album called Aglamak yok yuregim ("Never cry, my heart"), followed by a third, Nefesimsim ("You are my breath"). His fourth album was Yaralı bir askın oykusu ("The story of a wounded heart"). He followed up with his fifth album, Hediye ("The gift"), and the sixth album, named Küstüm asklara ("I am cross with loves").

Orhan Gencebay (born August 4, 1944 in Samsun, Turkey as Orhan Kencebay) is a Turkish musician, bağlama virtuoso, composer, singer, arranger, music producer, music director, and actor.

Gencebay was born in the coastal town of Samsun on August 4, 1944, to Crimean Tatar and Balkan Turkish parents.^{[citation needed]} He started learning music at the age of six, taking violin and mandolin lessons from Emin Tarakçı who was an old Classical Musician from the Ukraine Conservatoire. At the age of seven, he started playing the bağlama (a traditional Turkish instrument), and continued taking traditional Turkish folk music lessons. At ten, he created his first composition. At thirteen, he started playing the tambur, an instrument often used in Turkish classical music to improve himself in the theoretical and practical details of Turkish classical music.

During his high school years, he performed in Classical and Traditional Turkish Folk Music groups playing the tambur and baglama, taught music lessons in his own music courses, and took part in organizing community music centers in Istanbul and Samsun.

Selahattin Demirtaş (born 10 April 1973, in Palu, Turkey) is a kurdish Turkish-speaking pro-Kurdish politician whose parent speak Zaza dialect of Kurdish language. He became the chairman of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in January 2010.

He graduated from Ankara University Law Faculty. He is on the Board of Directors of the Diyarbakir Branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD).

Selahattin Demirtaş was elected to the Turkish Parliament in the 2007 election as an MP for Diyarbakir for the Democratic Society Party (DTP), which eventually re-formed as the BDP.

He is married and has two children. His brother, Nurettin Demirtaş was also an active politician and the leader of the Democratic Society Party (DTP).

In September 2010, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for alleged links to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which is banned as a terrorist organization in Turkey.

Demirtaş emerged as a leader of the BDP's civil disobedience campaign during the 2011 Kurdish protests in Turkey, which he compared to concurrent protests in the region, especially the revolution in Egypt. He spoke with President Abdullah Gul on behalf of the Kurdish population after the fatal shooting of a BDP supporter by police in April.