Alongside the critical talks with the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the government is planning a special concert featuring Turkey’s famous “little sparrow” pop queen, Sezen Aksu, and the iconic Kurdish singer Şivan Perwer, in an attempt to boost the ongoing peace process, daily Radikal reported March 2.

The concert may take place in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır, or Arbil in northernIraq, on March 21, the date of Newruz, which is an important holiday for the Kurdish people. Newruz is reportedly the day that PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan intends to make his call for a truce.

Aksu and Perwer are planned to take the stage before an audience of thousands of people, to sing songs in both Turkish and Kurdish. The preference inAnkarais to organize the concert inDiyarbakır, however Perwer’s refusal to come back toTurkeyuntil a solution to the Kurdish issue is found strengthens the Arbil alternative.

According to Radikal, the project is still in its early phases, however the report points out that Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, who is set to travel toGermanynext week, is scheduled to meet Perwer in his country of exile. It is underlined that there is a strong expectation inAnkarathat the Kurdish artist, who is originally from Şanlıurfa, will not refuse an idea that is personally conveyed by Arınç.



Soran Ali