Composer, writer, film director, member of the Turkish delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and Good Will Ambassador of UNESCO, Ömer Zülfü Livaneli was born in Ilgin, Turkey, on 20 June 1946. He was forced to leave Turkey and settle in Sweden in the 1960s because of his political ideas and commitment. He studied music and philosophy in Sweden, and after living for some time in Paris and Athens, he returned to Turkey in 1984