A fortnight ago, the 23rd Commonwealth Games held its closing ceremony having run for 11 days in host city Glasgow, from 23rd July to 2nd August. They were dubbed the ‘Ozempic’ Games after drastically slimming down the list of sports from 19 to 10. However, that reduction in sporting dis...
Reform’s ‘Turkish Barbers Tip Line’ is not just racism. It’s a process of ‘othering’ with dangerous consequences. Reform’s Home Affairs Spokesman, Zia Yusuf, announced on Thursday that, if elected, his party would pay members of the public whose tip-offs about businesses employing illegal...
The warning signs appeared well before a ball was kicked. At the World Cup draw in Washington in December 2025, FIFA president Gianni Infantino presented US President Donald Trump with the inaugural 'FIFA Peace Prize - Football Unites the World'. The newly created award, and Infantino's very public...
I recently watched new documentary The Divided Island. In fact, I saw it twice in one month. The highly acclaimed film has attracted a lot of interest from diverse media, including The Guardian, The Morning Star, and even The Church Times. Why has this film generated so much interest? One...
Two photographs, two family tragedies. The first of these show a three-year-old girl, Ayşe, wiping tears off her grandmother’s face with a tissue, oblivious to the tragedy her family has just suffered. The grandmother, also called Ayşe, is shedding tears for her daughter, little Ayşe’s mum Sonya Kay...
On Thursday, 12 December, the United Kingdom will head to the polls in a bid to break the current Parliamentary deadlock, in what is sure to be a pivotal moment in our country’s history. For the Conservative Party, this election is about getting Brexit done. Ever since the UK voted to leave the E...
Would you like to hear a story? It’s about a forgotten deal between the UK and Turkey, which came to life in the 90s. For the past two decades, the Ankara Agreement has been a strong and vital option in enabling commercial immigration from Turkey to Britain. Recently, the significant rise in new app...
I do not like the word ‘Diaspora’. Its dictionary definition is “the dispersion or spread of any people from their original homeland”. This evokes feelings of temporariness and permanent homesickness. For third, fourth generation Cypriots these feelings are meaningless. Their original homeland is Br...
My last wish When I die Is that you bury me in Cyprus Let my body be merged With the soil of my native land My head to my guts in the South My loins to my feet in the North Let me have two graves In the North and in the South For I must lie in both Yaşar...
On a bitterly cold January evening, I walk with trepidation towards a grand, imposing church. Why trepidation? Because I know the temperature inside this magnificent venue is not going to be that different from the outside; I spent many hours trembling inside Union Chapel attending union meetings.&n...
