Arif Şirin


Arif Şirin, commonly known as Ozan Arif, was a Turkish lyricist, composer, singer, and bağlama performer, foremost known for his songs with lyrics propagating the Turkish nationalist cause.

Life

Şirin was born in his father's village Yükselen in Alucra district. By 1970, he had graduated from the Male Teacher's School in Ordu Province and worked as a primary school teacher in Samsun from 1970 to 1979. Following the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, he moved to Germany where he lived until his return to Turkey in 1991.
He and fellow folk singer İsmail Türüt had been on trial for a song allegedly praising the assassination of Hrant Dink. Şirin and Türüt were acquitted in December 2009.
Şirin died on February 13, 2019 of throat cancer in Samsun Ondokuz in the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Mayıs.