Ahmet Kaya (28 October 1957-16 November 2000) was a folk singer who was born in Malatya, Turkey. He was of mixed Kurdish-Turkish origin and often identified himself as a "Kurd of Turkey".

Ahmet Kaya was the fifth and last child born into a mixed family, to a Kurdish father who had moved from Adıyaman to Malatya and a Turkish mother. Despite identifying himself as Kurdish in his last years, he did not speak Kurdish. He first encountered music at the age of six. Ahmet Kaya worked for a while as a taxicab driver in Istanbul before becoming a famous singer in the mid-1980s.

His first album, Aglama Bebeğim, was released in 1985. His popularity continued to rise into the 1990s when in 1994 he released the album Şarkılarım Daglara which sold a record number of copies. All of his 1990 albums became chart-toppers.

During his career, he recorded approximately 20 albums and was known for his protest music and positions on social justice. Recurring themes in his songs are love towards one's mother, sacrifice, and hope.

Many of his albums broke sales records. Kaya, with over 20 albums, is by far one of the most influential and controversial artists of the 20th century in Turkey who was very vocal on social and political issues; had to flee Turkey for France and died in exile.

An elegy "Ya beni sararsa memleket hasreti / What if I am homesick" tells the story of his agony, suffering, longing for the people and homeland he was torn away from. Many believe this led to his sudden death at a very young age.

Ahmet Kaya paid a huge price announcing his wish "to sing in the Kurdish language" when he was invited to stage to receive award at an award ceremony live on TV in 1999. He was declared a villain by authorities; targeted with fabricated news as a "traitor" by newspapers and TV stations nationwide.

The incident led to a prosecution case which made him leave Turkey. In March 2000 he was sentenced in absentia to three years and nine months in prison on the charge of spreading separatist propaganda. Later, however, the mass media allegation showing Kaya in front of the poster was proven to be forged. He died from a heart attack in Paris in 2000, at the age of 43, and is buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery. - Wikipedia