Nûdem Durak is a Kurdish singer,[1][2] folk musician and political prisoner from Northern Kurdistan imprisoned by Turkey. In 2015 she was arrested and sentenced to ten and a half years in prison for singing Kurdish political songs, regarded as evidence of "being a member of a terrorist organization".[3]

Life

Durak began to sing about the age of 12, and bought her first guitar by selling her mother's wedding ring.[4] She worked as a music teacher in the town of Cizre in South East Turkey at the Mem u Zin Cultural Centre.[5][6] She was first arrested in 2009, and spent several months in jail waiting for trial. After that trial she was released pending trial. On 22 April 2012 she was arrested again, but in 2015 the Turkish Supreme Court approved her punishment, resulting in her re-arrest and imprisonment.[3] Durak was sentenced to ten and a half years in jail for 'terrorist propaganda', due to the political nature of her music. Durak told Al-Jazeera before her imprisonment that “Singing in Kurdish is my heritage from my ancestors… my only crime is making art.”[7] In July 2016, Durak's prison sentence was increased from 10.5 to 19 years, with no additional charges brought against her. She is held in Type E Closed Prison in Mardin, Turkey. She is due for release in 2034.[8] She has complained of torture, isolation, and having her guitar broken by prison officers.[9]

Reception

For her release several prominent artists voiced support. Peter Gabriel equated Duraks actions to the ones other musicians like him do as well.[6] In November 2016, as part of Peter Gabriel's Voice Project, Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova highlighted Nûdem Durak's situation as someone 'imprisoned for art'.[10][11] In 2020, an international campaign calling for her release was started by Angela Davis, Noam Chomsky, Ken Loach, David Graeber, Peter Gabriel and Roger Waters, among other well known cultural figures.[12][13] Roger Waters sent his autographed Martin acoustic guitar of the Us + Them Tour on a journey across Europe during which several well known artists like Noel Gallagher of Oasis, Mark Knopfler of the Dire Straits or Marianne Faithfull also signed the guitar before reaching Durak in prison Bayburt.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Peter Gabriel, Johnny Depp Lead Voice Project's 'Imprisoned for Art' Campaign". Rolling_Stone. 16 November 2016. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  2. ↑ "Nûdem Durak". The Voice Project. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  3. 1 2 Uzay Bulut (2015-11-10). "Kurdish musician in Turkey sentenced to 10 years in prison for singing in Kurdish - Opinion - Jerusalem Post". Archived from the original on 2015-11-10. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  4. ↑ Andras, Joseph (2019-04-02). "Nûdem Durak: a song that is imprisoned". KEDISTAN (in French). Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  5. ↑ "Meet the Kurdish woman imprisoned for singing in Turkey". america.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  6. 1 2 3 Grow, Kory (2022-02-18). "'She's Not Free': Inside Roger Waters' Quest to Release a Jailed Kurdish Musician". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2022-02-19.
  7. ↑ Glynn, Sarah (2020-05-22). "Freedom's song: Solidarity with the Grup Yorum musicians in Turkey's prisons". Green Left. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  8. ↑ "Nûdem Durak". voiceproject.org. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  9. ↑ "" Nûdem Durak n'avait pas d'armes sinon une guitare "". Le Monde.fr (in French). 2020-05-22. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  10. ↑ Matthew Strauss, Johnny Depp, Pussy Riot, Tom Morello, More Take Mug Shots for Jailed Artists, Pitchfork, 16 November 2016. Accessed 21 April 2020.
  11. ↑ Peter Gabriel, Imprisoned for Art, The Voice Project, 16 November 2016. Accessed 21 April 2020.
  12. ↑ "International campaign for Kurdish musician jailed in Turkey". ANF News. Retrieved 2020-09-17.
  13. ↑ "Internationale Kampagne für Musikerin Nûdem Durak". ANF News (in German). Retrieved 2020-09-17.
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