Last Friday the world laid Muhammad Ali to rest. The 74-year-old former boxing heavyweight champion died on 3 June after being admitted into hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, with respiratory problems aggravated by his Parkinson’s disease. Ali's passing was mourned worldwide, his larger-than-life per...
Named after the two diplomats who helped shape this secret accord between the British and French governments during World War I, the Sykes-Picot Agreement planned to carve up the Ottoman Empire among the Allied Powers. Russia was also privy to the discussions, which started in November 1915 and was...
Born in Lefkoşa in 1958, Emine Çolak was forced to flee with her family at gunpoint when Greek Cypriots took over the running of the island by force in December 1963. Moving to London at a young age, she studied law at SOAS University and became a barrister in 1980. She returned to Cyprus to set up...
Those familiar with the British Turkish Cypriot community may well wonder how such a question could even arise. After all, Turkish Cypriots are highly secular and the younger generations well integrated into British society. So well integrated, that most know very little about their Islamic roots.&n...
“I took early retirement to concentrate on my research and writings” said Prof. Salahi Sonyel, who sadly passed away on Christmas Day 2015, in an interview I had conducted with him back in 1998. And indeed his writings and all the research he conducted over many years made him one of the most respec...
Few artists have achieved as much in their life as David Bowie. His talents were endless: singer, songwriter, musician, producer, actor, painter, fashion icon... Since first coming into the public consciousness in 1969 with the release of his second album David Bowie/Space Oddity, Bowie has prove...
According to Taner Derviş, most of Maraş – the ghost town claimed by Greek Cypriots as inalienably “theirs” – still legally belongs to Evkaf, a Muslim charity dating back to the Ottoman conquest of 1571. The former director of Evkaf says these rights have been re-confirmed in every Cyprus Constituti...
TRNC Foreign Minister Emine Çolak said this week that if the issue of hellim cheese is resolved as a confidence building measure (CMB), with economic benefit to both sides, it will enhance the negotiation process. Any other strategy could have a negative impact on the Talks, which are currently prog...
On this Remembrance Sunday, when the United Kingdom (UK) honours the heroic efforts, achievements and sacrifices of those who fought in past wars, spare a thought for a battle that is usually overlooked: the campaign at Gallipoli, or Çanakkale, fought against the Ottomans one hundred years ago, whic...
Securing protected status for traditional Cypriot cheese will benefit all producers on the island. However, the decision by Greek Cypriots to make a unilateral application to the European Union while deliberately excluding Turkish Cypriot producers not only turned this into a political issue, but al...
