Ahmet Kaya nicknamed himself The Kurd of Turkey. ∙ At age six, he began playing the bağlama, a stringed folk instrument made from wood. ∙ In 2012, Kaya received the coveted Special Prize from the Turkish Association of Magazine Journalists. ∙ In 1999, during his acceptance speech for Musician of the Year, he announced that he would record a song in Kurdish, for which he was verbally and physically attacked after leaving the podium. ∙ After Kaya’s death, he was honored with Turkey’s Presidential Culture and Arts Grand Award.