Tarkan

The singer Tarkan Tevetoglu is one of Turkey's most successful musical exports and is a prominent and influential figure in the Turkish music business. Known simply as Tarkan, the singer's popularity in his home country is impressive, particularly when taking into account that at the height of his career he became embroiled in a controversy threatened to strip him of his citizenship. The issue was about whether Tevetoglu should cut short his international rise to fame and accept his legal obligation to complete Turkey's compulsory military service requirement. The matter was resolved when the Turkish government passed a law enabling those eligible for national service to cut short their service subject to donating $16,000 to victims of Turkey's 1999 earthquake. Tevetoglu took advantage of the law and continued with his career after a short spell in the military.

He is best known for his 1998 international hit 'Simarik'. Copyright issues with the song prevented the singer releasing an English language version but the track was still spectacularly successful and has been covered by various artists over the years. With ten bestselling albums to his credit and a string of hit singles Tevetoglu ranks as one of Turkey's most prominent artists of modern times.