More January Dish on Tarkan

Posted by Hatice Soylu from Istanbul, Turkey and Steffan Matrak from Moscow, Russia

Social media in Turkey has been taken aback by the death of respected actress Ayşe Gruda today, and Tarkan has followed a bevy of domestic stars to post their condolences over the news. Under a picture of the actress, Tarkan wrote "another star falls" and that Gruda would not be forgotten.

Comedy actress Gruda was born in Istanbul to Albanian parents on 22 August in 1944. She appeared in several musicals and in over 100 films. Known for appearing in what are now considered classic family comedies alongside other legends Kemal Sunal, Adile Naşit and Münir Özkul, veteran theatre and cinema actress Gruda symbolised a time when "comedy was king" in Turkey.

Always up for a laugh, she held several theater and cinema prizes, but it was the comedy films she helped make great with other legends which cemented her into the public's consciousness.

Now that era has lost another member, when the Kağıthane Derindere Hospital in Istanbul, where she was being treated for pancreatic cancer, confirmed her death.

Deeply missed by many, Gruda passed away in Istanbul at the age of 74. (23 January)

Lipton Ice Tea removed it's challenge to Tarkan's Coca-Cola advert from its official YouTube channel last week - although no reasons have been cited for its removal.

It poked fun at Tarkan's advert and was dropped on the popular video streaming site a day after Coca-Cola released their latest attempt to repair their unhealthy image in Turkey. Challenging the carbonated drink, rival company PepsiCo's Lipton Ice Tea range is not fizzy, and promotes itself as a better drink than coke.

Known widely to parody the Tarkan commerical, articles have appeared in the press and on industry channels detailing the ad's intent to poke fun at Coca-Cola's signing of the "Black Sea" singer.

Marketing Türkiye and WebTekno, both respectable sites, have pointed out the covert challenge laid down by Lipton to Coca-Cola - with WebTekno also updating its page after Lipton removed the video from its YouTube channel. (17 January)

You are as loyal as your actions, claims daily paper Sabah columnist Hakan Uç, who accuses Tarkan of acting like an ingrate towards one of Istanbul's greatest photographers. Blasting the singer for his apparent rudeness, Uç claims to reveal a little known fact behind the photo shoot for the artist's Ahde Vefa album in 2016.

"It's not known that Tarkan agreed with close friend Ara Güler to shoot the photos for his classical Turkish album. Getting his attempts trashed by Tarkan hurt the aged photographer but he didn't show it," Uç writes.

UPDATES: Uç calls for music industry to join ranks over copyright >>
Tarkan in bidding war for Güler prints >>

Turkish-Armenian photographer Ara Güler was one of Turkey's best known photojournalists. Universally known as the Eye of Istanbul, Güler's death at the age of 90 last year saw Tarkan post his condolences on social media.

Reknowned photographer Güler photographed many world figures including British wartime leader Winston Churchill, Indian stateswoman Indira Gandhi, philosopher Bertrand Russell, film director Alfred Hitchcock and the artist Pablo Picasso. (19 January)

News portal Habertürk columnist Esin Övet responded to Uç's accusation of Tarkan's "rudeness" to an elder celebrity a day later, by asking if there is an unwritten rule which states the artist has to like the photographs.

"If it's a case of hiring the photographer and then not paying for his time, or not getting back to him on the matter, then that is ingratitude ... Personally, if it's just a matter of not liking the photographs enough to use, then that's a different story," Övet wrote in defence of the singer.

Tackling Uç directly, the columnist went on to write: "It doesn't seem like being ungrateful to me. Understandably, I'm at a loss to see how it is to you ... Really, unless he didn't pay him, then I don't see the point of this discussion," she said. (20 January)

Known as a one-time model and actress, Turkish celebrity Didem Soydan has expressed her regret at not having appeared in a Tarkan video in the Nineties.

It seems Soydan has a desire to have been old enough to have appeared in Tarkan's music video to "Ölürüm Sana" (Ölürüm Sana, 1997) - or at least any music video directed by Umur Turagay during that creative period (although she misprints his surname as Turgay).

Strangely, too, the press article gets the name wrong of Tarkan's track, mistaking it for Burak Kut's "Yaşandı Bitti" - which was filmed in New York in 1995 but by a different director, Abdullah Oğuz. Having filmed in the US with Tarkan a year before, Oğuz's visual rendition of Tarkan's 1994 pop video "Dön Bebeğim", the track from his second album A-acayipsin, had shocked nineties music audiences with its semi nudity.

Cited with Oğuz as filming some of Tarkan's early memorable offerings, Turagay directed Tarkan in his videos to "Kış Güneşi" (A-acayipsin, 1994), "Ölürüm Sana" and "Dudu" (Dudu, 2003). (18 January)

Opining on the nature of Turkish pop music today, up-and-coming female singer Nihan Akın - said to have been given the "thumbs up" by Tarkan - has described the voices coming out of Turkish pop now as "screeching sounds that have swallowed helium gas".

"Can you imagine if Tarkan had tried to start out in the industry as it is today? Kicked to the kerb is where he'd be, because we are being forced to listen to people who can't sing these days," she claimed in her interview.

"But I put myself with those voices who can sing, and refuse to clog up ears with junk," Akın added. (17 January)

In a direct response to career comparisons with Tarkan, pop newcomer Edis Görgülü has expressed his disappointment and immense sadness on Turkish daytime TV. Görgülü spoke on a popular magazine show to talk about how being described as "the next Tarkan" was a terrible thing to say.

Unfairly compared, the young singer said that "while Tarkan is still around, how can his crown be up for grabs? ... People should let me be Edis first," the singer said, stressing that he was a Tarkan fan.

UPDATE: Columnist: Edis is nothing like Tarkan >>

Belittled by the comparisons, Edis said that although it might seem like a compliment, such labels were in fact damaging to his career. (21 January)

In two shocking claims of marriage break-up and infidelity that catches Tarkan in a news crawl, is one connected with a famous fan, while the other is about rumours that the singer's two year marriage is already on the rocks.

Tarkan's own marital problems comes amid rumours of the infidelity of Serbian pop star Jelena Karleuša, who covered Tarkan's "Şımarık" (Ölürüm Sana, 1997) as "Zene Vole Dijamante" - where it's said she hid a two year affair from her footballer husband.

Claims about Tarkan's marriage breakdown say that the singer is "sick to death" over his wife's jealously, who is 14 years his junior, and that they have been living apart for three months.

However, the press wires - which have topped the most read lists - also print denials from the singer's camp, saying that the singer and his wife went back to Germany to be with family after the new year and are expected to return to Istanbul in February. (16-20 January)

Speaking about the rumours of cracks in Tarkan's marriage, Molatik's Andaç Üzel has described the press rumours of a break-up dogging his relationship as unfair.

UPDATE: Tarkan's two valentines >>

"Let's not sully Tarkan's marriage with gossip," Üzel says, while also questioning why we still can't get over our surprise that Tarkan is now a family man with a wife and child.

Undeniably there is going to be speculation and press interest in a public figure like Tarkan so long in the public eye, but Üzel suggests the media show respect for the institution of marriage and leave the couple to their privacy.

The Molatik columnist says the couple should not be seen as target for gossip mongers to take "pot shots from afar". (21 January)

More on Tarkan at Tarkan Deluxe Tarkan Welcomes Baby Girl Tarkan's Father's Day Tarkan's Mother's Day News Snippets: More Baby Buzz News Snippets: Baby Buzz Tarkan's Baby Bump Tarkan Shares Baby News Baby Tarkan on the Way?

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