T-VINE puts the spotlight on Turkish heritage candidates standing in local and regional elections taking place across Britain on Thursday, 6 May. Of Turkish Cypriot descent, Justin Halabi is aiming to become a councillor in the northeast London Borough of Waltham Forest. Which election are you standing for? Following the sad passing last year of […]
A fortnight ago, the European Commission adopted a package of measures to protect an important part of Cypriot heritage – its cheese. Called ‘hellim’ in Turkish, and ‘halloumi’ in Greek, this renowned Cypriot cheese was registered as a protected designation of origin (PDO), essentially banning the misuse of its name by imitation products across the […]
A press release issued by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) to remind Britain’s Turkish speaking communities to complete the Census has infuriated Turkish Cypriots after they were omitted. Turkish Cypriots make up the largest and oldest of the UK’s diverse Turkish speaking communities. Yet neither the community, nor its Islamic faith – also the […]
Tuesday marks the start of Ramadan, or Ramazan in Turkish, for most of the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims. This holiest of months is when the Ku’ran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammed. Each year, Muslims go through their own spiritual reawakening. For the next thirty days, all healthy Muslims will fast during daylight hours, […]
Turkish Cypriots hosted a special gala event for the television debut of historical drama series Bir Zamanlar Kıbrıs/ Once Upon a Time in Cyprus, which stars leading Turkish actors Ahmet Kural, Pelin Karahan, Serkan Çayoğlu, and Tayanç Ayaydın. The cast and the Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay jetted in for the occasion earlier this evening, […]
After years of disputes, Cypriot cheese – known in Turkish as hellim and in Greek as halloumi – has been granted Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status by the European Union. Member states “unanimously supported” the PDO proposals earlier today, which are applicable to “all parts of Cyprus”, according to a tweet by Elisa Ferreira, the European […]
A new British Turkish Cypriot network has been formed to offer support to its five founding members, among them “two of the UK’s oldest and most active associations”, the Turkish Cypriot Community Association and the Turkish Community Football Federation. Called the Network Of Turkish Cypriot Organisations, or NOTCO for short, it sets out to “reinforce […]
On Wednesday, 24 March, the British Turkish Cypriot Association will screen the third and final instalment of its webinar series ‘The Future of Cyprus: Two States? Federalism?’ with a heavyweight panel that includes former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, TRNC President Ersin Tatar’s Special Representative Ergün Olgun, and international relations guru Professor Hasan Ünal. When the […]
Turkey’s ambassador to London Ümit Yalçın has found himself in the midst of some of the most intensive political traffic between Turkey and the United Kingdom in decades. After spending two years as the Undersecretary of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the experienced diplomat arrived in the British capital late in 2018 to find […]
“Curated by TRNC Consulate General in İstanbul” reads the bio for KKTCIstanbul, the arts and cultural Instagram account of the Istanbul Consulate for the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC). Running since the summer of 2020, KKTCIstanbul’s 132 posts to date are a visual feast of Turkish Cypriot life, past and present. A cursory glance […]
