Ahmet ÖZHAN
State Artist Ahmet Özhan was born on 26 August 1950 in Şanlıurfa. He completed his musical education at the Istanbul Municipal Conservatoire and the Üsküdar Music Society, and began his professional career in 1968. Throughout his artistic career, he has benefited directly from the guidance of distinguished masters of Turkish music such as Emin Ongan, Akâ Gündüz Kutbay, Recep Birgit, Cüneyd Kosal and Cinuçen Tanrıkorur. In addition to his work on records, cassettes and CDs, he has been involved in cinema films, television series and concert activities; he has also worked on television as a commentator, programme producer and director. Between 1981 and 1991, he worked as a vocalist at TRT Istanbul Radio. Numerous works performed by Ahmet Özhan have secured a permanent place in both the classical and contemporary repertoires of Turkish music.
On the Sufi path he embarked upon in 1974, within the framework of the Association for the Preservation of the Nureddin Cerrahî Mausoleum and Mosque and the Foundation for the Research and Preservation of Turkish Sufi Music and Folklore; drawing on the knowledge, wisdom and experience he acquired from his teachers, Muzaffer Ozak Efendi, Safer Dal Efendi and Tuğrul İnançer Efendi, as well as under their guidance, he has performed Turkish Sufi music in its authentic form in both national and international venues since the early 1980s. Ahmet Özhan has participated without interruption in the Şeb-i Arûs Ceremonies held in Konya since 1980 and continues to do so to this day. From 1991 until his retirement, he served as the Founding Artistic Director of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Istanbul Historical Turkish Music Ensemble.
Art and Culture
In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the arts and cultural life, Ahmet Özhan was awarded the title of State Artist in 1998. In 2024, he was honoured with an award in the field of music at the Presidential Grand Awards for Culture and the Arts ceremony.
Academy
He has taught courses on Sufi music and culture at Haliç University and the Institute of Sufi Studies at Üsküdar University.
He was awarded honorary doctorates by Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University in 2013, Konya Necmeddin Erbakan University in 2015, and Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University in 2019.
Through the projects he coordinated, the ‘Certificate Programme in the Music of the Call to Prayer and the Recitation of the Qur’an’ was launched in collaboration with the Istanbul Provincial Directorate of Religious Affairs and the Conservatoire of Turkish Music at Haliç University; this has contributed to the development of religious officials’ stylistic and musical understanding in the performance of the Qur’an and the call to prayer.
Ahmet Özhan, who currently serves as President of the Foundation for the Research and Preservation of Turkish Sufi Music and Folklore, continues his work towards the preservation, revitalisation and transmission to future generations of elements of cultural heritage such as Sufi music, literature, rituals and dervish trousseaus.
Works
