Yıldız Tilbe

Yıldız Tilbe (born 16 July 1966) is a Turkish pop folk singer of Kurdish and Zaza descent, and one of the best selling musical artists in Turkey, known especially for her eastern-infused ballads.

Early life and career

Her father is from Ağrı and her mother is from Tunceli.

She was saved from the pimps by İbrahim Tatlıses

While performing at a nightclub in 1991, she met Sezen Aksu. For some time, she worked as a backing singer and collaborated with several other artists on their music projects.

Yıldız released her debut album Delikanlım in 1994 and songs from this and later albums have received airplay overseas. Tilbe writes and composes most of her songs and also produces for other artists, including Tarkan, Funda Arar, Demet Akalin, Gulben Ergen.

Antisemitism and Anti-Israel Views

After the 2006 Israeli airstrike on Lebanon, during a television appearance Tilbe said, "May God bring down one disaster after another upon Israel," to which the studio audience answered, “Amen.”

In response to Israeli airstrikes on Gaza in early July 2014, Tilbe is reported to have said on social media site Twitter: "God bless Hitler, it was even too few what he did to the Jews, he was right" and "The Jews will be destroyed by Muslims, in the name of Allah, not much time left for it to be done".

Yıldız

Yıldız (literally "a star" in Turkish) is a neighbourhood located in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, Turkey. The neighbourhood comprises some of Istanbul's well-known historical locations, such as Yıldız Park and Yıldız Palace, the second largest palace in Istanbul. Yıldız has a population of approximately 6,000.

History

The area of Yıldız used to be a coniferous forest in Byzantine times. Starting during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, the Ottoman sultans made it their hunting grounds. In the next centuries, it remained as a grove behind the seaside palaces. The neighbourhood began to flourish in the wake of construction of the palace in the 19th century. It took its name from the first pavilion, namely Yıldız Kasrı, commissioned by Selim III in early 19th century.

The area was the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire for the last 30 years, during the era of Abdul Hamid II.

Places to see

The biggest part of the palace gardens, some old pavilions and the famous porcelain workshops are open to the public in what is now called the Yıldız Park. The well-known pavilion in the complex, the Şale Köşkü or Chalet Pavilion, is accessed through the park.

Tuna Kiremitci

Tuna Kiremitci (born February 1973, Eskişehir) is a contemporary Turkish writer.

His first poems were published in the magazine Varlık during his Galatasaray High School years. His book entitled Ayabakanlar ("Moon Watchers") that won him the "Yasar Nabi Nayır" Award for Poetry met his readers in 1994. In 1997 he shared the "Erguvan Balkan Poetry Award with the Bosnian poet Izet Sarajlić. This was followed by his second book of poems Akademi (Academy) in 1998.

Tuna Kiremitci's first novel Git Kendini Cok Sevdirmeden ("Leave Before I Fall in") came out in 2002 and excited great interest and was acknowledged as one of the most important literary events of that year. His second novel Bu Iste Bir Yalnizlik Var ("Way of Loneliness") and Bazı Siirler Bazı Sarkilar ("Some Poems Some Songs") a collection of his poems were published in 2003. His novels Yolda Uc Kisi ("Three On The Road", 2005) and Dualar Kalicidir ("Prayers Stay The Same", 2007) have met with a wide audience.

His books that on the whole treat the tragedies of ordinary people, the impasse of relationships between men and women in today's Turkish society and the melancholy of getting old with an expression that is mournful but that evokes a smile here and there, have been appraised by Professor Gursel Aytac as being examples in Turkish literature of "romantic irony" (Hurriyet Gosteri: July–August 2005).