Pastirma or bastirma is a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef in the multiple counties throughout the Caucasus, Middle East, and Balkans.

The name bastirma is from Turkish: bastırma et (pressed meat).bastırma is the gerund of the verb bastırmak (bastırmak in modern Turkish), which means "to depress, restrain". The word is used with minor variants in the various languages of the region: Albanian: pastërma, Arabic: بسطرمة (basterma)‎, Armenian: բաստուրմա (basturma), Azerbaijani: basdırma, Macedonian: пастрма (pastrma), Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian: pastrma, Bulgarian: пастърма (pastărma), Greek: παστουρμάς (pastourmás) or παστρουμάς (pastroumás), and Romanian: pastramă. The word pastrami, although used for a differently prepared type of meat, also goes back via Yiddish: פּאַסטראָמע (pastrómeh) to pastırma.

Wind-dried beef has been made in this region for centuries, since at least Byzantine times.

There are various stories about the origin of pastirma, none well documented. One story gives its origins as the city of Caesarea Mazaca (modern Kayseri) in Anatolia, where there was supposedly a dish called pastron; but this is not supported by standard Greek dictionaries.

Ahmet Kaya (October 28, 1957 – November 16, 2000) Kurdish singer from Malatya, Turkey, who died on November 16, 2000 in exile in Paris. 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.

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.