Responding to need

It is estimated that around 70,000 Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot people live in north-east London. Most of these people are refugees or asylum seekers and reside in Hackney and Haringey.

Refugees and asylum seekers from Turkey have endured war, torture, rape and other traumas. Fleeing from the place of their oppression they have discovered that in England their horrors are not left behind. Many suffer ongoing mental and physical health problems.

Living in an alien culture with ambivalent views about asylum seekers brings social exclusion, great stress and distress with it. A disproportionate number of them suffer from severe poverty and homelessness. Many have left families behind in Turkey. As they settle here more problems arise. Separation sometimes leads to the breakdown of families.

These are some of the problems in our communities that cause the unmet needs we are attempting to respond to.

Turkish
Last Update: January 15th 2013