I live in British society and feel very much a part of it, but I don’t always feel part of the British culture. I have often found it difficult to form a close friendship with English people. There can be an invisible gulf between “them” and “us”, and no matter how much you feel part of the culture, you may still be seen as different or as a foreigner. That is simply my personal experience.
However, I have now lived in Britain for 46 years as a Turkish Cypriot, and I consider myself as a Londoner. London is where I have spent almost all my life, worked, got married, and built my friendships and my life.
Whatever my cultural identity may be, I feel, above all, that I am a Londoner.
Interview conducted in 2002
‘Turks in London – The Unheard Voices’ by Semra Eren-Nijhar, 2017
