The new owners of Tottenham Park Cemetery – the UK’s largest burial ground for British Turks – have announced they will be hosting a community event in North London to discuss details about their long-term plans and to “hear” the views of the community.
The new team say their objectives are “multifaceted, reflecting a holistic approach to repositioning Tottenham Park Cemetery”, outlining three strands to this approach: community awareness, community engagement, and fundraising for restoration.
The details are relayed on a big outdoor poster at the entrance of the cemetery and have also been shared on the cemetery’s Facebook page.
Families with relatives buried at Tottenham Park Cemetery and the wider community are invited to attend the open evening, which is being held at Regency Banqueting Suite in Tottenham on Wednesday 8 November. The two hour event will start at 7pm.
Relatives with loved ones buried at the privately-owned cemetery have long complained about its poor state and management. Located in Edmonton, Tottenham Park Cemetery was first opened in 1912 and has around 6,000 plots, with the vast majority of plots reused multiple times for burials. It is estimated some graves have had as many as seven internments.
Funeral directors and community activists have joined relatives in expressing serious concerns that every new burial is disturbing the remains of those already buried there. Family members have also been distressed to visit the site and discover the graves of their relatives “missing”.
Despite several reports by the Ministry of Justice describing the 2.4 hectare site as being “full”, Tottenham Park Cemetery has continued to allow new burials there. Research shows in excess of 75 burials taking place since 2019.
Earlier this year the former owner Peter Demetriou rejected a “generous” six-figure offer from Enfield Council, which would have turned the burial ground into a ‘garden of remembrance’. Instead, it is believed Mr Demetriou sold the cemetery to a new team of businessmen led by stone mason Mustafa Darı.
The current owners have generated a new wave of concern over possible financial exploitation of bereaved families. The voluntary-run Tottenham Park Cemetery Action Group has received multiple reports from anxious people, who were slapped with demands by the new management for immediate and costly remedial work to their relatives’ memorials and graves.
One woman, Aliye Iskeleliler, said she had seen red and white tape around headstones at the cemetery when she had visited last month, and realised there was also tape at three graves belonging to her family. Writing on the action group’s Facebook page, Ms Iskeleliler said the new owners told her it was “£1000” to “fix headstones”, claiming they were too high, and was also told “if I don’t agree they will take them out fix it bill person land is registered [sic]”. T-VINE has not been able to verify this with the new owners.
Event details
Title: Bringing Unity to the Community’
Date: Wednesday 8 November 2023
Time: 7pm – 9pm
Address: Regency Banqueting Suite, 113 Bruce Grove, Tottenham, London N17 6UR
For more info: contact 07498 201 225
