Zülfü Livaneli
Ömer Zülfü Livanelioğlu (born 20 June 1946), better known as Zülfü Livaneli, is a Turkish musician, author, poet, and politician.
He was imprisoned several times following the 1971 Turkish military memorandum due to his political views, which led to his exile in 1972. During exile, he lived in Stockholm, Paris, Athens, and New York City, where he collaborated with artists and intellectuals such as Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, James Baldwin, and Peter Ustinov. He returned to Turkey in 1984.
In 1995, UNESCO appointed him as a Goodwill Ambassador in recognition of his cultural works, political activities, and contributions to world peace. He resigned from this position in 2016 in protest against what he described as the damage by the Turkish State to the historic Kurdish Old Town of Diyarbakir.
Livaneli served as a member of the Grand National Assembly and as part of the Turkish Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
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