How about Gülay?

http://www.gulaysezer.com/diskografi.html

Is she arabesque? Is she popular.

Some of her rhythms are very complicated, I can´t even count to them. Is that from Traditional Turkish music or Arab music or something?

I know only onse song of Gülay and it is one of my all time favorities. It is this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8sILUsdA0E

One of the other my all time favorites is Yusuf Taşkın´s Ağla Sevdam:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc2k-XGqr18

She looks quite different in that video (from the more recent videos).

Does Cesaretin Var mı Aşka mean Do you have the courage to love?

I listened to the other song, I think I need to listen to it again.

Here is one from Gülay that sounds complicated to me. I try to count to it (i.e. 1-2-3-4 or 1-2-3) but I can´t figure it out:

Bahçada Yeşil Çınar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccPnp4sLL4I

A traditional song, I wondered but didn´t know, thanks.

For the counting, I meant the rhythm rather than the sylables. I think it is in 5´s which would be very unusual in modern music.

Any idea by Traditional how old this would be? Or how does one find out if a song is traditional?

For a Turk it is very easy to recognise a folk song. They are always written with syllabic meter. They are purer and simpler than arabesue music. Most of the time they are played with saz.

I have noticed in some Turkish songs the Lyrics of verse repeats. This was surpising to me.

For example in most English Pop or Rock songs you have something like: Verse 1, Chorus, Verse 2, Chorus.

This song below actually has the verse repeated 4 times (i.e. the first paragraph below). I was hoping to know more about this. i.e. is this common in Turkish songs or other types or music? or the origin of this?

Elveda/Bengu

Hani biz aşkı senle yaşayan bir çift gözdük
Ne oldu bu halimizi ikiye böldük
Acıtan sen değilsin tek hata yalnız bende
Böylesi canımdan çok sevmekti

Sen değil miydin bana aşk emek ister diyen
Ben değil miydim sana kalbiyle suçsuz gelen
Şimdi vazgeçtin yani bunu mu söylüyorsun
Sen de ne çok sevdin biliyorsun

Elveda diyemem sana
Sen bitir en doğru buysa
Ben yapamam gücüm yok buna
Kalbimde seni saklarım
Hayallerimle yaşarım
Benim için üzülme..

its very common in turkish music yes

Let´s go back to the birth of arabesque music in Turkey.
When it began, how it began, why it began...
When we look at Ottoman times, we dont see an arabesque music as we understand today. There were arabesque and persian music types but not melancholic or sad. Even we can see western type of music after sultan mahmud the second. (bknz: yine bir gülnihal)

I read somewhere that arabesque music start with repuclic times after radio invented and became common. In the first decades of republic (1930-195 there were a heavy westernization politics. Of course music was not excluded. Almost everything including music that belongs to ottoman era were refused. No private radio stations were there at that time. State radio stations dont broadcast what folks demand. So people started to listen arabic radio channels even if they dont understand any single word. There were no better alternative. Later, we started to use arabic types with turkish lyrics in a very heavy style that arabs dont use. Nowadays arabesque music lost its popularity.

From what I hear it seems like Arabesk music is in reality a take off,  or a Turkishization of classical Egyptian music. Some of the rhythms an riffs sound to be almost lifted from Egyptian music by composers like Abdu Wahab and others. If you are familiar with Egyptian music, you hear it immediately. 

FWIW, I find it very annoying. It´s not here nor there....If you were not familiar with Egyptian music, it might be ok to you. 

But according to Wikipedia, both Sibel Can and İbrahim Tatlıses are Arabesque:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabesque_%28Turkish_music%29

Is it true?