Kazım Koyuncu

Kâzım Koyuncu was a Turkish singer-songwriter of Laz ethnicity, born in a village near Hopa in Artvin Province on the Black Sea coast of Turkey. He became one of the most beloved voices to emerge from the Laz cultural revival of the 1990s and 2000s, singing in both Turkish and the Laz language and helping bring Black Sea folk traditions to a national audience.

His music blended regional Laz and Georgian-influenced folk melodies with rock and pop arrangements, often built around the kemençe and other traditional Black Sea instruments alongside electric guitars and modern production. Songs such as «Ben Seni Sevduğumi», «Didou Nana», «Ayrılık Şarkısı» and «Koçari» became anthems of Laz identity and remain widely covered and referenced by later Black Sea and Caucasus-influenced artists.

Beyond music, Koyuncu was known for his environmental and cultural activism, campaigning against ecological damage on the Black Sea coast. He died in 2005 at a young age from cancer, an illness widely linked in public discourse to the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster's fallout over the region, and he is remembered as a symbol of Laz cultural pride and ecological awareness in Turkey.