Musicologist Veysi Varlı: 4,971 of the 28,000 songs I examined have been Turkified

Diyarbakır-based musicologist Veysi Varlı announced that as part of his long-standing archival work on Kurdish music, he has examined 28,000 works and found that 4,971 of them were Turkified and published without indicating their source.

Appearing as a guest on Hêvidar Zana's program on Rûdaw TV, Veysi Varlı stated that his research was conducted through various sources such as cassettes, albums, and personal archives. Varlı noted that works belonging specifically to the regions of Diyarbakır, Urfa, Antep, Maraş, and Dersim were recorded under different names.

The musicologist alleged that many pieces, including works by figures such as Celal Güzelses and Hasan Zirek, were Turkified under the name of 'Kirkuk folk songs' without their origins being specified. Varlı emphasized that the fundamental issue is not the performance of works in different languages, but the concealment of the original sources.