Press Releases

Standing Up to Racism - 18 July 2007

17 July 2007: ‘Getting organised’, ‘documenting evidence’ and ‘being proactive’ were some of the key outcomes of the UK’s first anti-racism seminar for Turkish Cypriots held in North London on Monday 16 July. Human rights group Embargoed! organised the event called ‘Second Class in Cyprus, Second Class in Britain’, which centred on the discrimination affecting Turkish Cypriots living in Britain. The diverse panel of speakers included representatives from the Turkish Police Officers Association (TPA), Kick it Out (KIO) and Newham Monitoring Project (NMP).

The packed room of over 80 people at the Regency Banqueting Suite in Tottenham – the heart of London’s Turkish speaking community – listened attentively and took part in the lively debate. Chair Fevzi Hussein presented the backdrop to the seminar by listing some of the recent discriminatory actions against British Turkish Cypriots, from a lack of direct flights to North Cyprus, to the racist graffiti on Turkish Cypriot shops in South East London on the anniversary of the Stephen Lawrence murder.

TPA Vice Chair Halil Huseyin explained the role of his group and how they are ready to assist Turkish Cypriots on issues such as race hate. He explained that the community needed to become pro-active in reporting such crimes and by participating in organisations such as the Metropolitan Police’s Independent Advisory Groups, could ensure their issues were also addressed.

London Turkish Gazette columnist Peray Ahmet described the different forms racism takes and highlighted some of the difficulties experienced by Turkish Cypriots who were an “invisible community”, often focussing on issues from ‘back home’ instead of tackling local problems such as the underachievement of young Turkish Cypriots. She argued that the lack of documented evidence, together with smear campaigns against those standing up to racism – who are often tagged as ‘nationalists’ – meant the community rarely recognised, let alone effectively dealt with the discrimination it faced.

KIO’s Leon Mann explained how his organisation had been formed following Eric Cantona’s infamous attack on a racist fan, and how it now runs regular projects aimed at eliminating racism from football. He stated that his group had been contacted by Embargoed! following the racist abuse targeted at Arsenal fan Mete Ahmed by Greek Cypriots for flying the TRNC flag at the Emirates stadium. Mann outlined a KIO project, suggested by Embargoed!, for a Cypriot youth football tournament in Autumn 2007, to help bring the two communities together to foster trust and mutual respect.

Asad Rehman of NMP, who has over 25 years experience in human rights, talked about how British Asians had learnt to stand up to overt and institutional racism. He explained how the passive nature of his community changed following violent crimes, including the murder of fellow British Asians. Rehman provided practical examples of how Britain’s Turkish speaking community could also rise up against discrimination, urging them to become engaged in British society and politics. He suggested multi-language ‘Rights’ cards to educate the community and that they should lobby State representatives, including the Greater London Assembly, to become active in combating racism against Turkish Cypriots.

Following their presentations, the panel took questions from the floor, which provided for a diverse and passionate range of exchanges that continued long after the official close of the seminar. The event concluded with Embargoed! announcing its intention set up a project to monitor, document and analyse the discrimination faced by Turkish Cypriots in Britain and North Cyprus and that the group would run more events of a similar nature in the future.
-Ends-

Notes to editors

The photo displayed is of the seminar panel, from left to right:
Halil Huseyin, Asad Rehman, Fevzi Hussein, Peray Ahmet, and Leon Mann


About Embargoed! – www.embargoed.org
Embargoed! is an independent human rights group campaigning for the immediate and unconditional end to all embargoes against North Cyprus. The group was launched on 4 March 2005 and aims to play an active role in raising awareness about the isolation of North Cyprus and lobbying world leaders and institutions to restore the fundamental political, economic and social rights of Turkish Cypriots.

Contact Embargoed!:
• Telephone/fax: + 44 (0)20 8279 8561
• Email: mail@embargoed.org
• Post: Embargoed! Suite 205, 14 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 1JY

Press Enquiries:
Ms. İpek Özerim
T: +44 (0)777 623 0466
E: ipekh@excite.com




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