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 […]
Roots The effects of the French Revolution in 1789 reached the Ottoman Empire nearly fifty years later. Starting from 1839 until 1876, during the regression period of Ottoman Empire, a set of reforms were implemented to modernise, centralise and improve the legal, economic, social and political structure of the government, which was called the Tanzimat […]
“Here we are, on July 11th 1995, in Serbian Srebrenica, on the eve of a great Serb holiday, we present to the Serb nation this town. And finally, the moment has come that, after Uprising against Dahijas (Ottoman janissaries), we take revenge against Turks in these lands.” These were the words of Rakto Mladic, a […]
On this day twenty years ago, actor Kemal Sunal suffered a fatal heart attack as he boarded an early morning domestic flight from Istanbul to the Black Sea city of Trabzon. He was just 55 years old. Sunal is said to have had a lifelong fear of flying and had not been on a plane […]
The Council of Turkish Cypriot Associations in Britain (CTCA UK) – the UK umbrella body for Turkish Cypriots – has requested community members to contact them if they own land on or around the British military bases, also known as the Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs). The UK government recently launched a public consultation process to […]
The Cyprus Problem has existed for decades. While we each have our own take on its origins, the search to find a solution that is acceptable to the majority of Greek and Turkish Cypriots continues to this very day. Research can play a vital part in helping policy makers understand the concerns and needs of […]
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 […]
The jessamine is odorous; so Maid lilies are, and clematis And where tall meadowsweet flowers grow A rare and subtle perfume is; – What can there be more choice than these? – A rose when it doth bud and blow.” By Christina Rosetti (1830-1894) When I began interviewing people about their memory of smell […]
From Getty Images to The Times, Hürriyet and LBC, multiple media have covered stories about British Turkish Cypriots in recent weeks. At the heart of these most of these stories is Shacklewell Lane Mosque (also known as Masjid Ramadan) – a community hub in Dalston, East London, that has come into sharp focus during this […]
Every 19 May, the people of Turkey commemorate Mustafa Kemal’s landing at Samsun, on the Black Sea, on May 19, 1919, which marked the start of the Turkish War of Independence. The Turks emerged victorious from the four-year war, expelling numerous foreign powers which had invaded the crumbling Ottoman Empire, among them Britain, France, Italy, […]
