Flurry of events in
A “BUSY year” for the Anglo Turkish Association (ATA) culminated in a flurry of events in December.
The first of three events was a visit to the Lefkoşa headquarters of Evkaf, the religious and cultural foundation, when 17 members and friends braved heavy rain to attend an illustrated talk by director of archives Mustafa Kemal Kasapoğlu, which focused on the organisation’s history and current work. It was followed by lunch at nearby Rüstem’s Bookshop.
Second outing of the month was a talk about diamonds by Timuçin Altı, manager of Girne’s Blue Diamond Jeweller’s, whose background included studying geological engineering at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara and work as a mines geologist, when his interest in gemology began.
Mr Altı explained how every diamond, a crystallised form of carbon and the hardest substance known to man, was unique, with complex characteristics that cannot be duplicated, only their cutting and setting being under human control. He spoke of the famed Koh-i-noor diamond and also of Zulcanite TC, an extremely rare and trademarked gem found only in the mountains of Anatolia that changes colour according to the light, and of rare