London’s Turkish, Turkish Cypriot and Kurdish communities have never fielded so many candidates in a UK election
By Michael Daventry and Timur Ekingen
A record number of candidates from the Turkish, Turkish Cypriot and Kurdish communities will be running in this month’s local elections in London.
No fewer than 83 men and women – representing a mix of major and minor political parties – are standing in all four corners of the capital, according to the Electoral Commission’s statement of candidates published this week.
The figure is an increase of more than 50 per cent on the 53 candidates who at the last local election four years ago.
Just sixteen Turkish candidates stood had stood in the 2002 election, indicating how far the communities’ political representation has developed in a little over a decade.
ALL ACROSS LONDON
Most London boroughs will see a greater number of community candidates than ever before.
There are 33 candidates alone in Enfield, the north London borough home to the greatest number of Turkish speakers. Haringey, the second most populous, has a record 18 candidates.
Hackney, also traditionally associated with Turkish and Kurdish speakers, has nine candidates, including Mustafa Korel, who is running as an independent for mayor of the borough.
But this year’s race will also be marked by the growing number of candidates from outside traditionally Turkish, Cypriot and Kurdish areas.
Eleven are running in south London boroughs like Lewisham, Southwark and Sutton. Five alone are in Bexley, near the border with leafy Kent.
ALL POLITICAL PARTIES
A cursory look at Londra Gazete’s guide to the community’s candidates, on pages 32 and 33 of this newspaper’s Turkish section, will reveal all major parties will be represented, many of them in the same borough.
The scores of Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Green candidates help dispel the popular notion that the Turkish, Cypriot and Kurdish communities are predominantly Labour in their political affiliation.
But the political left is represented through eight candidates from the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, running in Enfield, Hackney, Haringey and Islington.
RUNNING FOR THE FIRST TIME
This year’s race sees several prominent community leaders standing for seats. Murat Yurtseven, who owns Home Tiles, a leading brand in the stoneware industry, is running for the Conservatives in Southgate Green, Enfield.
Textile businessman Hakkı Tatar is running for the Liberal Democrats in Seven Sisters, Haringey, where he will be opposed by activist Oktay Şahbaz, the TUSC candidate.
Also new are Labour candidates Suna Hürman, a member of the board in the Alevi Community Centre and candidate in Enfield’s Haselbury district, and Peray Ahmet, a council worker running in Haringey.
THE OLD GUARD STANDS AGAIN
They could end up joining existing councillors who are running for re-election, including Labour’s Feryal Demirci (Hackney) and Ahmet Öykener (Enfield), Doğan Delman and Ertan Hürer (both Enfield) for the Conservatives) and Labour’s Ali Demirci (Haringey).
A number of serving councillors are stepping down after either stepping down or deciding not to run again. Among them is Nilgün Canver and Dilek Doğuş (both Haringey) and Yusuf Çiçek (Enfield).