Author: İpek Özerim

HP News
Fundraising for Grenfell Tower victims Hanife and Şener Macit, as police consider criminal charges

  The police have released important new details about their investigation into last week’s horrific Grenfell Tower fire that claimed the lives of at least 79 people. It comes as heartbreaking stories about the victims and survivors continue to surface, along with sustained efforts to raise money to assist all those affected, including a couple originally […]

HP News
CONIFA Euro Cup 2017 gets underway in North Cyprus tonight

  A European football tournament for nations and territories excluded by FIFA kicks off this evening, with the hosts North Cyprus facing Kárpátalja in the opening match at the Atatürk Stadium in Lefkoşa. The winner of the CONIFA Euro Cup 2017 will be crowned in the TRNC capital next Sunday. A total of eight teams […]

HP News
Cyprus Talks on brink of collapse
 

  The Cyprus Talks are in danger of total collapse following an admission by Espen Barth Eide the Special Adviser of the UN Secretary-General on Cyprus, that the two Cypriot leaders have been “unable to find common ground.”  A statement issued by the UN in Nicosia earlier today said despite the envoy’s intensive efforts over […]

HP News
No breakthrough in Washington after Trump and Erdoğan meet for just 23 minutes

  The Turkish President’s visit to Washington to meet with his American counterpart has seemingly failed to yield any results. After strained relations with Donald Trump’s predecessor, President Erdoğan was hopeful yesterday’s meeting at the White House would be a “turning point” in the relationship between the two NATO allies. Erdoğan was buoyed by the […]

Culture
Review: XX “captures perfectly BaBa ZuLa’s sonic adventures of the past two decades”

  Deep within their unruly, freedom-loving psychedelic vibe, there is a particularness about BaBa ZuLa’s world that I love. Their front covers are always carefully considered and stunningly constructed. They are particular about their experimental sound, which never fits into any one genre but effortlessly brings together Western and Eastern beats. And the lyrics for […]

Festivals
Bob Geldof and his Boomtown Rats rock Mağusa, North Cyprus

  Eastern Mediterranean University’s annual Rock ‘n’ EMU festival has pulled in some major headliners since its inception, but none as big as the band that performed last night. Led by globally renowned Sir Bob Geldof, veteran Irish punk rockers The Boomtown Rats took to the stage in a packed stadium in Mağusa/Famagusta, eastern Cyprus, […]

HP Reviews
Music review: Çiğdem Aslan – A Thousand Cranes

After her critically-acclaimed 2013 debut release Mortissa¸ Çiğdem returns with an inspired follow-up. Her musical cue is again Rebetiko – the shared cultural heritage of Turkey and Greece in the 1920s – but Çiğdem spreads her musical wings in A Thousand Cranes, travelling from Istanbul and Izmir to Greece, the Balkans, and eastern Turkey picking […]