Category: Features

Features
Turkey’s top drag artist, the iconic “Huysuz Virjin” dies at the age of 87

One of Turkey’s leading entertainers Seyfi Dursunoğlu has died in hospital after a short illness. Dursunoğlu, better known by his stage name and drag character Huysuz Virjin (The Grumpy Virgin), was admitted to Istanbul Acıbadem Altunizade Hospital a fortnight ago. He was being treated for pneumonia, as well as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according […]

Features
Cyprus’ first First Lady Süheyla Küçük dies aged 94

Süheyla Küçük, the wife of Turkish Cypriot leader Dr Fazıl Küçük, has passed away at Lefkoşa Burhan Nalbantoğlu State Hospital on Monday. She had been receiving treatment for sepsis. Tributes have poured in for Mrs Küçük, who was given the title ‘First Lady’ after her husband, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr Fazıl Küçük, became the first […]

Features
Letter to my long lost Turkish Cypriot father
 

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 […]

Body
Yonja Ali: The Life of a Psychic Medium

The world of a psychic medium is intense and, to those of us on the outside, insane. Apparently gifted with paranormal senses, psychics serve as a link between the dead and the living, carrying messages from our deceased relatives and other guides, while their magical hands appear to detect and cure illness. Their intuition and […]

Features
Community pays tribute to “remarkable” Turkish Cypriot Aysın Yılmaz, who died today aged 70

Aysın Yılmaz, the pioneering former past president of the Council of Turkish Cypriot Associations in Britain (CTCA UK), has died this morning, her family has announced. She passed away peacefully at 9am at North Middlesex University Hospital, where she had been receiving treatment for leukaemia. The news has been greeted with universal sadness from the […]

Features
The meteoric rise of fashion designer Dilara Fındıkoğlu

If you haven’t heard Dilara Fındıkoğlu’s name, where have you been? The London-based Turkish designer hit the headlines in September 2017 following her controversial Satan-themed catwalk show at St Andrew Holborn Church during London Fashion Week. Since then she’s enjoyed a meteoric rise, dressing global super stars for the red carpet and gala events. Described […]