Seven Turkish Cypriot families trying to repatriate their loved ones after they died in Britain of coronavirus Covid-19 have had a major boost after two senior politicians backed their campaign. Kudret Özersay, the Foreign Minister of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC), and Dr Sibel Siber, the TRNC’s first female Prime Minister, have publicly […]
For the past two months, eighteen families have been campaigning to have their deceased loved ones returned to North Cyprus for burial. Last week, eleven of those families received the news that their applications had been successful. An announcement by the government of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC) on Thursday, 14 May, stated […]
After an absence of three years, British Turks make a return to this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, which lists the country’s richest one thousand individuals. Mustafa and Fatma Kiamil are joint 923 on the 2020 list with an estimated fortune of £130 million from their food business. The Turkish Cypriot couple were one of […]
Turkish Cypriot businessman Ersu ‘Eddie’ Ekrem, currently recovering in hospital from Covid-19, has featured on the BBC’s main evening news discussing his “terrible hallucinations” after being induced. The short clip, broadcast on Tuesday 12 May, opens with Mr Ekrem being helped to sit up in bed by nurses in full personal protective equipment (PPE) at […]
Not many words were shared, but the language of love took over all those years ago in a white house in Elephant and Castle, south London. The road name was Elliotts Row, house No. 32. It was 1986, spring time. My mother Carole Mitchell had come over from Essex with her best friend Corrine. Money […]
Local councils in North Cyprus and the main state hospital in the capital Lefkoşa are fifty thousand pounds better off this week following a generous donation by the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation – the charity vehicle of Greek Cypriot business tycoon Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou. The Foundation announced earlier today that it was making donations to four […]
For the past few weeks, all eyes have been on how New Zealand has been winning the war against coronavirus. Yet over in the Eastern Mediterranean, a similar success story is playing out in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The small country with a population of 350,000 has managed to flatten its infection […]
Şakir Alemdar, the Imam of Hala Sultan Tekke – one of the Islamic world’s holiest sites – has issued a short video clip in English urging Muslims to stay at home for Ramadan, which this year starts on Thursday evening, 23 April. Posting on his personal Facebook page, Imam Alemdar reflected on the changes Muslims […]
“One love. One heart. Let’s get together and feel alright,” sing NHS staff, key workers and volunteers from London’s Turkish Cypriot community. Their digital rendition of a Bob Markey classic not only aims to uplift spirits, but to also raise awareness of multiple good causes that need funding through the crisis. The clip is the […]
Sonya Kaygan, a 25-year-old mother of one, has passed away from coronavirus, her family announced today. She becomes the youngest British Turkish victim to die of COVID-19, which has already claimed the lives of over one hundred others in the community. Friends and family have said the young woman “gave her life protecting and caring […]
