ABSTRACT
One of the most fundamental social transformations brought about by developments in Turkey after 1980 and particularly from 1990 onwards was the linking of cultural and political demands. The construction of national identity on a single ethnicity and language during the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic began to be debated, and the multiethnic, multireligious, and multilingual Ottoman heritage was virtually rediscovered. The efforts to Turkify the Muslim population arriving en masse to Ottoman lands from the Balkans and the Caucasus can be considered part of assimilationist policy. From the multiculturalist perspective of Turkey all ethnic and cultural identities considered sub-cultures are colorful components of the whole, continuing under the hegemony of the dominant culture. The music of ethnic groups in Anatolia was either ignored or assimilated and appropriated into Turkish folk music. Aside from a few exceptional albums, the mainstream and widely popular musical style known as Turkish pop music is sung in a single language, Turkish.
