Turkish singer Murat Göğebakan passes away

ISTANBUL - Anadolu Agency

Singer Murat Göğebakan has died aged 56 in Istanbul. He had been receiving leukemia treatment for years.

Murat Göğebakan, renowned Turkish rock singer, died early July 31 of a heart attack due to leukemia in Istanbul.

Göğebakan, who is known for several of his catchy songs that were released in the early 2000s, had been undergoing cancer treatment since 2009 and was in intensive care for the past 10 days.

He was born in 1968 in Turkey’s southern city of Adana and studied music in the Ankara State Conservatory.

The singer has won many awards, including the 1996 best singer of the year and the best-selling album of 1996.

Göğebakan composed an election campaign song for Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and had visited him on July 4. His song called “Uzun Adam,” (Tall Man) the nickname generally used for Erdoğan by his party colleagues, had become highly popular among Justice and Development Party (AKP) supporters.