Editing Cem Karaca (section)

==Biography==
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He was the only child of Mehmet İbrahim Karaca, a theatre actor of [[Azerbaijanis in Turkey|Azerbaijani]] origin,<ref name="aksiyon040216">{{cite news|title=Cem Karaca:Sanat Yapar |first=Sema |last=Sak |date=2004-02-16 |access-date=2007-03-04 |publisher=Aksiyon |url=http://www.aksiyon.com.tr/detay.php?id=11171 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930155104/http://www.aksiyon.com.tr/detay.php?id=11171 |archive-date=2007-09-30 |language=tr |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Toto Karaca|İrma Felekyan]], a popular opera, theatre, and movie actress<ref name="aksiyon040216"/> of [[Armenians in Turkey|Armenian]] origin.<ref>{{cite web|title=Toto Karaca (1912-1992)|url=http://www.biyografi.net/kisiayrinti.asp?kisiid=960|publisher=biyografi.net|access-date=2007-02-05|language=tr|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070202100716/http://www.biyografi.net/kisiayrinti.asp?kisiid=960|archive-date=2007-02-02|url-status=dead}}</ref> His first group was called ''Dynamites'' and was a classic rock cover band. Later he joined ''Jaguars'', an [[Elvis Presley]] cover band. In 1967, he started to write his own music, joining the band ''Apaşlar'' (The Rowdies), his first [[Turkish language]] group. The same year, he participated in the [[Golden Microphone]] ({{langx|tr|Altın Mikrofon}}) contest, a popular music contest in which he won second place with his song ''Emrah''. In 1969, Karaca and bass-player Serhan Karabay left Apaşlar and started an original Anatolian group called ''Kardaşlar'' (The Brothers).

In 1972, Karaca joined the group ''[[Moğollar]]'' (The Mongols) and wrote one of his best-known songs, "''Namus Belası''". However, [[Cahit Berkay]], the leader of Moğollar, wanted an international reputation for his band, and he left for [[France]] to take the group to the next level. Karaca, who wanted to continue his Anatolian beat sound, left Moğollar and started his own band ''Dervişan'' (Dervishes) in 1974. Karaca and Dervişan sang poetic and [[progressive rock|progressive]] songs.

In the 1970s, Turkey was dealing with political violence between supporters of the left and the right, separatist movements and the rise of [[Islamism]]. As the country fell into chaos, the government suspected Cem Karaca of involvement in rebel organisations. He was accused of treason for being a separatist thinker and a [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]]. The Turkish government tried to portray Karaca as a man who was unknowingly writing songs to start a revolution. One politician was quoted as saying, "Karaca is simply calling citizens to a bloody war against the state." ''Dervişan'' was ultimately dissolved at the end of 1977. In 1978, he founded ''Edirdahan'', an acronym for "from [[Edirne]] to [[Ardahan]]"; the westernmost and the easternmost provinces of Turkey. He recorded one LP with ''Edirdahan'' called "''Safinaz''".

In early 1979, Karaca left for [[Cologne]], [[West Germany]] for business reasons. In 1980 he began singing in German with the song [[Nazim Hikmet]] - ''Kız Çocuğu'' (''Little girl''): Cem performed the German verses alternating with his best friend, manager, producer, arranger and bandleader/bass player/keyboarder/drummer, guitar player ''[[Ralf Mähnhöfer]]'' accompanying him on [[grand piano]], solo or with the band ''[[Anatology]]'', singing the song in the [[Turkish language]].

Turkey continued to spin out of control with military curfews and the [[1980 Turkish coup d'état]] on September 12, 1980. General [[Kenan Evren]] took over the government and temporarily banned all the nation's political parties. After the coup, many intellectuals, including writers, artists and journalists, were arrested. A warrant was issued for the arrest of Karaca by the government of Turkey.

The state invited Karaca back several times, but Karaca, not knowing what would happen upon his return, decided not to come back.

While Karaca was in [[Germany]] his father died, but he could not return to attend the funeral. After some time, the Turkish government decided to strip Cem Karaca of his Turkish citizenship, keeping the arrest warrant active.

Several years later, in 1987, the [[Prime Minister of Turkey|prime minister]] and leader of the Turkish [[Motherland Party (Turkey)|Motherland Party]], [[Turgut Özal]], issued an amnesty for Karaca. Shortly afterwards, he returned to Turkey. His return also brought a new album with it, which released in September 12 of that year, ''Merhaba Gençler ve Her Zaman Genç Kalanlar'' ("''Hello, The Young and The Young at Heart''"), one of his most influential works. His return home was received cheerfully by his fans, but during his absence Karaca had lost the young audience and acquired only a few new listeners. He died of a heart attack on February 8, 2004, and was interred at [[Karacaahmet Cemetery]] in the [[Üsküdar]] district of Istanbul.