DERMAN’s annual general assembly meeting and 30th-anniversary celebration were held with the participation of many people.
Professionals working in different institutions and organizations, including Derman employees, and nearly 100 people from all our communities attended the meeting and celebrations held at St Paul’s Church West Hackney on 12 November 2021.
At the meeting where Derman’s Chairman of the Board, Dr Adam Forman, gave the opening speech, Hackney Deputy Mayor Anntoinette Bramble and Hackney Clinical Commission chair and also a neighbourhood doctor Dr Mark Rickets also gave speeches. He stated that despite all the negativities caused by the pandemic, Dr Forman Derman continues to provide vital services to the Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot communities with great devotion. In their speeches, Mr. Bramble and Dr Rickets also emphasized how important Derman’s services are for the Kurdish and Turkish communities living in Hackney, especially during this difficult time.
Zafer Kurşun, the general manager of Derman, also mentioned the importance of the complementary services/projects of the institution for our societies in his annual evaluation speech covering the 2020-21 financial year and explained the services provided with statistics Kurşun said that, despite all the difficulties of the pandemic, during the 2020-21 fiscal year, 2,338 people benefited from the services provided by Derman 8,088 times through one-on-one/group activities or by telephone but he underlined that these numbers doubled in normal times.
Derman’s services offer free health counselling, speech therapy, mental health support, social right and more for those in Islington and Hackney, where Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot populations live intensely; He also mentioned that there is a great need, especially in regions such as Haringey and Enfield, and that as Derman, it is important to offer these services to our communities in the near future.
Following the meeting a question and answer section was held then and lunch; the event to celebrate Derman’s 30th Anniversary ended with a small concert filled with beautiful folk songs performed by the Rengin Women’s Choir.
