Since forming Istanbul Doors in 1993, Levent Büyükuğur has quietly revolutionised Istanbul’s nightlife and restaurant scene. His diners and clubs, Changa, Lucca, Kitchenette and Angelique among them, are bywords for sophisticated quality, while his compatriots have also been treated to new culinary...
Perceptions about Islam, the gentrification of inner London, and ‘how do you tell your gangster family that you’ve converted to Islam’ were among the questions put to film director Andrew Hulme and actor Martin Askew at a special screening of Snow in Paradise, a film which they wrote together....
Next Sunday, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus will go to the polls to elect a new President. Seven candidates are vying for the political hot seat, including incumbent, Dr. Derviş Eroğlu. The TRNC operates a Parliamentary political system, which means the Presidency is primarily a symbolic...
Happy 8th March International Working Women's Day! Here are some apt words for this day from renowned writer and poet Nazım Hikmet. The faces of our women are the book of our pains. Our pains, our faults and the blood we shed carve scars on the faces of our women like plows.And our joys ar...
Former Culture Minister of Turkey, a cultural historian, poet and translator Prof. Dr. Talat Halman once observed that Osman Türkay’s (16 February 1927 – 24 January 2001) work combined Blake’s apocalyptic vision which Eliot’s gloomy depictions of modern civilisations. Not only does Dr. Halman make t...
One of Turkish cinema’s legendary figures, Yılmaz Güney was an award-winning film director, scenarist, novelist and actor. Of Kurdish origin, he made his mark championing Turkey’s most marginal citizens on and off the screen. During his career, he directed 25 films, wrote 61 scripts, and appeared in...
The United Nations estimates that more than 2,000 people have died this year while making their journey from North Africa into Europe. The Mediterranean Sea became the route of hope for many migrants and refugees. It was also a deadly route for many whose boats capsized and sank; for those who...
Back in June, Dr. Kudret Özersay – a respected academic, leading civil society activist and the current Turkish Cypriot Negotiator for the Cyprus talks – visited London to meet with high level officials in the British Government. While in the capital, he also gave an illuminating talk at the London...
Forty years ago today the war in Cyprus ended, but not before the gruesome discovery of a variety of mass graves containing the bodies of Turkish Cypriots. One of the worst was the Tochni Massacre: 85 inhabitants from Taşkent (also known as Tochni), a mainly Turkish village located in the Larnaca Di...
Record numbers are expected to turn out for tonight’s Şafak Nöbeti (Dawn Watch), the annual remembrance event at Yavuz Çıkarma Plajı in Girne – the beach where Turkish troops first landed in 1974. This year not only marks the fifth such event, but will also commemorate the 40th anniversary of the...
