On 13 May 2026, King Charles approved a major government reshuffle and our very own Nesil Caliskan (née Cazimoglu) was sworn in as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Devolution, Faith and Communities at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Born and raised in Enfield to Turkish-Cypriot parents, Nesil was already a trailblazer:
-First Turkish-Cypriot woman elected to the UK Parliament (Barking, 2024)
-Youngest-ever female council leader in the country when she took over Enfield Council at just 29
Now she’s the first Cypriot (of Turkish-Cypriot heritage) to hold a ministerial post in the history of the United Kingdom. Cyprus Mail is already calling her “British Cypriot MP,” and the pride is real across the entire diaspora.
The UK has one of the largest Cypriot communities in the world.
Massive congrats, Nesil! 👏
Drop your thoughts below, let’s celebrate this one properly 🇨🇾🇬🇧
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Posted by Fun_Success_45
3 Comments
Congratulations Nesil.
p.s. Don’t forget the UK and the US were the instigators of the division.
In the end, Denktash wanted a separate Turkish state within Cyprus, but the real Turkish Cypriots built it in Enfield.
Congrats!
There’s a version of this story that is legitimately inspiring. Grandchild of working class Cypriot migrants, state schools in Enfield, rises to ministerial office in three generations. And honestly compared to France, Germany or even the US, Britain’s political system has shown a real capacity to absorb diaspora talent into positions of actual power.
But individual mobility is not the same as structural equality.
Britain has a specific habit of being genuinely good at celebrating exceptional individuals from migrant communities while using those individuals as evidence that the system works, which then becomes a reason not to fix the system. It celebrates Nesil while underfunding the schools that produced her.
The country is more open than it gets credit for. But there’s a difference between a country that allows talented people to escape their circumstances and a country that actually addresses those circumstances.