Between 2000 and 2007 eight Turks were murdered in Germany, but the media and authorities preferred to present their cases along ethnic stereotypes, painting the victims as “kebab shop owners” caught up underworld crime and their likely killers as Turkish or Kurdish mafia. A chance police discovery of the actual killers in 2011 only came […]
Earlier this week, the London Book Fair announced Turkish author Burhan Sönmez’s Istanbul Istanbul, translated by Ümit Hussein, had won the inaugural EBRD Literature Prize. Judged by historian Peter Frankopan, poet Gabriel Gbadamosi, Lucy Hannah, who founded and manages the Commonwealth Writers platform, and journalist Rosie Goldsmith, the prize awards €20,000 to the winning title, which is […]
The Turkish Government has thrown its weight behind air strikes launched against the Syrian regime in the early hours of Saturday morning. The USA, Britain and France commenced their aerial bombardment of key targets associated with chemical weapons following the regime’s alleged gas attack on citizens in Douma, which killed 70 people. British jets […]
On Thursday night, one of the world’s most famous artists unveiled a giant new mural in New York protesting the imprisonment of a young artist in Turkey. The ‘Free Zehra Doğan’ painting by Banksy appeared on a wall on the corner of Houston Street and Bowery in East Village, and was verified as his on […]
In 1977 Muharrem Özdemir was 19 and his friend just 18, both gifted Cypriot teenagers studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul when they were forcibly abducted and held captive for a day before being shot by Turkish fascists. Before his death, Muharrem’s friend had begun a portrait of him. This unfinished […]
A Turkish organisation has started to renovate five Ottoman-era Islamic sites including four mosques and one Sufi or dervish lodge in Albania this month. The restoration works, which are expected to last two years, are part of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency’s efforts to preserve cultural and historical assets shared by both Turks and […]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discussed Jerusalem with Pope Francis on Monday amid the continuing upheaval caused by the US’s recognition of the city as the Israeli capital last year. President Erdoğan, who became the first Turkish head of state to visit the Vatican in almost 60 years, had a fifty minute meeting with the […]
On Wednesday evening, one of Turkey’s top designers presented a shimmering set of evening dresses in Paris – the fashion capital of the world. Fevziye Çamer took part in the 23rd edition of the Oriental Fashion Show, an organising which specialises in promoting international designers and brands who originate from the Silk Road region. The […]
Last week, a lesser known but important story broke on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It involved Turkish ambassador Münir Ertegün, who served in the United States of America between 1934 and 1944, a time when racial segregation was the norm for Americans. At the turn of the twentieth century, although slavery had been abolished, […]
Officials for the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) were in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) at the start of the New Year to oversee the draw for this year’s World Cup. Sixteen teams, including North Cyprus, are taking part in the international football tournament being held in London between Thursday 31 May […]
