Ahmet Kaya, a Turkish singer born in 1957, sold his records by the million in a country that knew his lyrics by heart. A Kurd, he announced one day that he wanted to sing in Kurdish: the campaign launched against him was so violent that he had to leave for Paris, where he died in 2000, at forty-three. Fifteen thousand people came to his funeral. His family refused to let the body return home.
The story
Born at Malatya on 28 October 1957, to a Kurdish father and a Turkish mother, Ahmet Kaya became one of the great voices of Turkish song: political words, a hoarse voice, and an audience that learnt his songs by heart.
Kurdish through his father, he said so in public. In February 1999, at a Turkish press gala where he was handed the singer of the year award, he announced that he would sing in Kurdish on his next record: the room booed him and threw forks at him. A year later a court sentenced him in his absence to three years and nine months in prison for “separatist propaganda”.
He settled in Paris, went on singing and recording, and saw it only as a temporary arrangement that lasted. He died in the city on 16 November 2000, at forty-three.
His funeral, on 19 November 2000, drew fifteen thousand people from all over Europe. His family refused to send the body home: “He will lie here until the day Turkish state television broadcasts Kurdish music,” his widow said.
He lies in Division 71, avenue Circulaire, first row, under a slab bearing his portrait in relief and a long Turkish poem about exile. It is one of the most visited graves in the cemetery.
The grave
A slab on which the singer's portrait is rendered in bas-relief, and across which runs a long poem in Turkish devoted to exile — a rare case at Père-Lachaise, where epitaphs fit in three lines. The dates are given the Turkish way: “AHMET KAYA, 28.10.1957 – 16.11.2000.” The grave is one of the most visited in the cemetery, and one of the very few of which the family said it was only temporary.
On site, do not miss
The portrait in bas-relief, and above all the long poem in Turkish engraved on the slab: a text about exile, on a grave that was never meant to be final.
Visitors' questions
Where is Ahmet Kaya's grave?
In Division 71, avenue Circulaire, first row. It is one of the most visited graves at Père-Lachaise: a slab with a bas-relief portrait, covered with a long poem in Turkish about exile, and almost always in flower.
Jean-Jacques GrunenwaldWhy did Ahmet Kaya go into exile in France?
Because publicly announcing that he intended to sing in Kurdish unleashed a campaign against him of a violence rarely seen in Turkey. Under prosecution, he left the country in the late 1990s and died in Paris in 2000.
Yılmaz GüneyHow many people came to his funeral?
Fifteen thousand, on 19 November 2000, from all over Europe. Few funerals at Père-Lachaise ever drew as many — and none for an artist his own country had cast out. He was forty-three.
Uğur HükümWhy is he not buried in Turkey?
Because his family refused to have the body repatriated. “He will rest there until Turkey becomes a democracy worthy of the name,” his wife declared: the Paris grave is itself a statement.
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