Category: Culture

Community
New UK Turkish Cypriot community network group NOTCO launches

A new British Turkish Cypriot network has been formed to offer support to its five founding members, among them “two of the UK’s oldest and most active associations”, the Turkish Cypriot Community Association and the Turkish Community Football Federation. Called the Network Of Turkish Cypriot Organisations, or NOTCO for short, it sets out to “reinforce […]

Features
Is KKTC Istanbul the coolest diplomatic Instagram account in the world?

“Curated by TRNC Consulate General in İstanbul” reads the bio for KKTCIstanbul, the arts and cultural Instagram account of the Istanbul Consulate for the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC). Running since the summer of 2020, KKTCIstanbul’s 132 posts to date are a visual feast of Turkish Cypriot life, past and present. A cursory glance […]

HP Culture
March special: from Anatolia to the Middle East, Arts Canteen’s eclectic line-up of music and spoken word

Led by Essex Arab funny girl Esther Manito as MC, and with performances from Palestinian hip hop star El Far3i (47Soul), Turkey’s Olcay Bayir, and Alia Al Zougbi, and with DJ Nooriyah spinning some tunes throughout, the evening promises to be an arts extravaganza of Middle Eastern-inspired music and storytelling. The setting is London’s Grand […]

HP Culture
Esenkent Dansı – a song inspired by a London boy falling in love with Istanbul Apartment culture

Rock musician Hakan Tuna has returned with his third release, Esenkent Dansı, from his 2021 project ‘12 songs 12 stories’. Wholly instrumental, the track is inspired by his experience as a Londoner living in Istanbul. Hakan was born and raised in the British capital, growing up in a “typical London Victorian era house”, so the apartment […]

HP News
Turkish national anthem “İstiklal Marşı” is 100 years old today

The Turkish national anthem celebrates its centenary today, after the İstiklal Marşı – or Independence March – was formally adopted as the country’s song on 12 March 1921. The words were written by Mehmet Âkif Ersoy, who bequeathed his work free of charge to the Turkish nation, and the music was composed by Osman Zeki Üngör. […]