Tag: Turkish Cypriot

Comedy
Turkish stand-up Şaban Kâzım wins London Comedy Store’s King Gong award

Şaban Kazim emerged the winner from last month’s competition for amateur stand-up comedians at the world famous Comedy Store in Leicester Square. The 31-year-old competed against 25 other acts to make it through to the final, where he beat five others to take the King Gong award. The southeast Londoner wasn’t on the original line-up […]

News - UK
New Turkish Cypriot student body launched in the UK

Students primarily from North Cyprus have launched a new group for young Turkish Cypriots in the UK. Called Kibrisli Turk Gencligi Ingiltere (KTGI), the group intends to form a strong professional and social network for those studying in Britain, along with promoting their Turkish Cypriot culture and identity. It is being supported by the TRNC […]

My World
My World: Ali ‘Babutsa’ Sönmez

A legend of the Turkish wedding circuit, he hit the big time with his group Babutsa. These days, he runs a café in Beckenham and performs weekly at a top London Turkish nightspot, while guiding the career of his singer daughter.  Tell us about your family life My parents are from Cyprus (İskele and Karpaz) […]

News - TRNC
Turkish Cypriot billionaire to give talk on higher education in British Parliament next week

One of the world’s most successful educational entrepreneurs will address a select meeting in the House of Lords on December 1st, at the invitation of Lord Sharkey. In an address titled ‘Higher Education in the Life of the TRNC’, Dr Suat Günsel, Founding Chancellor of Near East University, northern Cyprus, will tell prominent academics and politicians […]

Propa Turkish
Kebab Kings

Turks are born with the ability to do one thing perfectly: cook kebabs. There’s nothing worse in life than expecting freshly-made şeftali kebabs and köfte, only to be handed sausages or burgers. It’s imperative we understand the difference between a kebab and a BBQ. It’s not just ditching the ketchup and mustard for humus and […]

Holidays
Get Away to Lefkoşa

Nicosia (Lefkoşa in Turkish) is the capital of both the TRNC and South Cyprus. The city has been divided since the outbreak of the Cyprus Conflict in December 1963, although the opening of the borders in April 2003 has enabled greater interaction between the two sides. There are now three crossing points: Ledra Palace, which […]

News - Features
Remembering the Tochni Massacre
 

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 District of Cyprus, about halfway between Larnaca and Limassol, were […]

My World
My World: Sibel Hodge

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, […]

News - UK
Peray Ahmet – building bridges among Haringey’s diverse communities

  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 […]

News - UK
Ibby Mehmet – Labour high-flyer standing up for social justice

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 […]