Anatolian rock

           Baris Manco                                             Cem Karaca

Baris Manco, Cem Karaca is the best known performer of Anatolian rock music, which was banned for most of its existence. Karaca set the stage for politically-charged performers like Mogollar, Yeni Türkü, Bulutsuzluk Özlemi, Zen and Zülfü Livaneli. Livaneli was known for the mid-80s innovation of özgün, a guitar-based genre that combined mellow vocals with Arabesk music and rural melodies. The lyrics were generally not revolutionary, though the Kurdish Ahmet Kaya performed the poems of Nazim Hikmet, a leftwing activist banned by the government.

Turkish hip hop

In 1995, the Turkish-German community produced a major hip hop crew named Cartel which caused controversy in Turkey and Germany for its revolutionary lyrics. Other Turkish-German rappers include Nefret, Aziza-A, DJ Volkan, KMR and DJ Mahmut.