Hunger strikes in Hackney

This week the Hackney Gazette reported: "Kurds took part ina 24-hour hunger strike at the Kurdish Community Centre in Finsbury Park on Monday February 14 and many joined a march from Dalston Junction on Tuesday afternoon.

"They called for the release of Kurdish leader Abudullah Ocalan, who has been jailed in Turkey since his arrest in 1999, and for new efforts to resolve the Kurdish conflict there."

Abudullah Ocalan is the leader of the PKK which has been classed as a terrorist group in the UK and in the US and has called on Kurds in Turkey to stage protests like those in Egypt.

Last year a Turkey expert told Blood and Property that ethnic divisions in Turkey were alive and well - and often more intense - in communities outside of the country. In Hackney there may also be a link between crime and politics. Gangs like Bombacilar may have been linked to right wing groups involved in the assassinations of Kurds.