With 200 rejections for her first novel, Sibel could have easily given up. She persevered and is now an award-winning, international best-selling author with 16 titles under her belt. 1.Tell us about your background? My mum is English and my dad Turkish Cypriot. Dad’s originally from Girne. He left in 1958 to study in Britain, […]
Local Elections held earlier this year marked a major increase in political activity from the British Turkish community, which includes those of Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Kurdish origin. A total of 83 candidates stood for election, of which a record number were elected into office on 22 May 2014. There are now a total […]
A new Turkish festival planned to take place at Trafalgar Square this Saturday has been cancelled. The organisers of a Turkish Day in London made the announcement yesterday, stating that the “continuing tragedy of [the] mining accident at Soma. Turkey” meant they could not “justify celebrating at Turkish Day in London”. Over 280 miners […]
Our final interview in T-VINE’s series on the next generation of British Turkish politicians is with Peray Ahmet, a Labour councillor candidate in the London Borough of Haringey. As friends and family will testify, she is passionate about fighting for social justice and equality, and feels she is at a stage in life where […]
The Turkish government have declared three days of national mourning in response to the mining disaster that has claimed the lives of at least 232 coal miners. Some 800 miners were down in the pits in Soma, Manisa, in the west of Turkey, when an explosion occurred yesterday evening. The accident is one of […]
Dr Turhan Özen forms T-VINE’s fourth interview with the next generation of British Turkish politicians as part of our 2014 UK Election series. A co-founder of the Liberal Democrat Friends of Turkey and on the executive for the Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats, he continues to work hard to champion equality and human rights for all. 1) When were you selected […]
The third in our series of five 2014 UK Election interviews with the next generation of British Turkish politicians, we talk to Ibby Mehmet. Just 27 years-old, the councillor candidate for Colyers in Bexley already has an impressive track record: he is the first Turkish Cypriot student to be elected President of a British university’s students’ union, he is a […]
Continuing our 2014 UK Election special, we talk to Emine Ibrahim, who is standing for Labour as a councillor candidate in the London Borough of Haringey. A respected political and social activist in the community, she tells us about the challenges local people are facing in her ward. 1) What is your current job or profession? […]
Part of T-VINE’s 2014 election special, here’s the first of five interviews with the next generation of British Turkish politicians 1) When and why did you join the Conservatives? I joined the Conservatives twelve years ago at the age of 14. My friend’s grandmother who knew the local Member of Parliament, Andrew Rosindell, also […]
Mimar Sinan, born 15 April 1489 Considered to be one of the greatest architects of all time, Mimar Sinan served several sultans during the classical Ottoman period: Süleyman the Magnificent, Selim II and Murad III. The son of a stonemason, Sinan grew up in Kayseri where he received a technical education. He became a military engineer, rising […]
