State-run broadcaster TRT's Kurdish-language station "TRT Kurdi" introduced Turkey's first Kurdish polyphonic choir "Koroya Kurdi" (Kurdish Choir). The choir will interpret any genre of Kurdish music, said Mustafa Ekici, the coordinator of TRT Kurdi, in the launch meeting. Featuring Kurdish musicians, a preliminary jury will tour around Turkey as of April 15. "The jury committee includes choir conductors and guest musicians. They will select new members for the choir from Gaziantep, Istanbul, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Diyarbakır, Van and Malatya," Ekici continued. "Following the assessments, 50 candidates will be trained in Istanbul, after which 10 female and 10 male choir singers will be chosen," he said.

The new choir will give a big concert in Istanbul with a special repertoire covering songs mostly in Kurmanji, but also Zazaki and Sorani Kurdish. "The concert will be broadcasted live. Aside from Kurdish songs, there will be Turkish, Armenian, Arabic and Ottoman Turkish songs in the repertoire," Ekici noted. He further announced that the choir is supported by leading names in the music industry including music producer Ayhan Evci, Rahman Altun, Armenian maestro Melikcan Zaman, Güler Işık, Aydın Aydın, Nilüfer Akbal, Berdan Mardini and Hüseyin Tatar. Ayhan Evci has worked with famous Kurdish singers such as Civan Haco, Şivan Perver and Nilüfer Akbal.

Armenian conductor Zaman expressed his excitement about the project. "For the first time, an extensive project kicked off to establish a polyphonic Kurdish music choir. I am proud to become a part of it," he said, adding that after considerable efforts, the choir will enrich the history of the music world. The launch meeting was overseen by some other musicians and TRT staff. TRT has a big music archive developed by Turkey's prestigious musicians. "For many years, our musicians toured Anatolia for TRT's radio programs. The archive covers both Turkish and Kurdish songs, which will be performed again with our new choir years later.