Galip Ahmet is one of the first Turkish Cypriots to have come and settled in Britain in the early 1950s. Born in Cyprus on 18 April 1929, Galip Bey recently turned 90.

I interviewed him earlier this summer about his experiences before and after his move, as part of my work on ‘Turkish heritage in the UK’. It’s a subject I have researched for many years, as I believe collecting these vital memories of our past will impact on our collective existence in the present, whoever and wherever we are.

I have not planned to write any article on this issue but coming back from a conference from Sofia, Bulgaria on the subject “Cultural Heritage in Migration” where we had all the intense discussion on this issue with the conference organisers /participants and later my personal experience on heritage in Sofia left me no other than to address this issue. The question “Whose Heritage Is It?” as raised first by Stuart Hall surrounded on the definition of heritage baffled me throughout my stay in Sofia.

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