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List of British Turks

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The following is a list of British Turks, including people of full or partial ethnic Turkish origin with British citizenship.

The majority of notable British Turks come from the large Turkish Cypriot community, followed by ethnic Turks who originate from Turkey. In addition, there are notable British Turks who descend from other post-Ottoman modern nation-states which still have significant ethnic Turkish minorities. For example, from the Balkans, Silvena Rowe has a paternal Turkish Bulgarian background[1] Moustafa Palazli has a Turkish Western Thracian background from Greece.[2] From North Africa, Kasim Kutay has a paternal Turkish Egyptian background.[3] Meanwhile, Egyptian-born Dodi Fayed was maternally of Turkish Saudi origin.[4] From the Levant, Farah Zeynep Abdullah, Nemir Kirdar[5] and Rena Kirdar[5] have a Turkish Iraqi background; Rana Kabbani has a Turkish Syrian background;[6] and Skandar Keynes and Soumaya Keynes have a maternal Turkish Lebanese background.[7]

In addition, there are notable naturalised British citizens of Turkish origin who descend from the modern Turkish diaspora (i.e. from countries which were never part of the former Ottoman Empire). The majority are "Euro-Turks" who descend from Western Europe (e.g. Erol Gelenbe[8] and Elif Shafak[9] have a Turkish French background; Atif Bashir[10] and Semra Eren-Nijhar[11] have a Turkish German background). Some British Turks have also come from the diaspora in North America (e.g. Erdem Moralioğlu has a Turkish Canadian background[12]).

Many notable British Turks have dual nationality, including British nationality and the country which they descend from (e.g. Cypriot, TRNC, Turkish, Bulgarian, Iraqi, etc.). Some British Turks have also moved to other parts of the modern Turkish diaspora where they have acquired another citizenship. This is most notable among the British-Turkish Cypriot diaspora; for example, in addition to their British citizenship, Hal Ozsan also has American citizenship; Mutlu Çerkez also has Australian citizenship; and Alkan Chaglar and Erol Kahraman both also have Canadian citizenship, etc.


  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rowe was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Palazli was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kutay was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bradford was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference kirdar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kabbani was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Keynes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Gelenbe was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Alev Adil: Lecturer, University of Greenwich, London Centre for Social Studies, archived from the original on 11 January 2021, retrieved 9 January 2021
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bashir was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference Eren-Nijhar was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference erdem was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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