Man murdered in Turkish cafe

FEARS that violence in Britain's Turkish community is growing out of control were fuelled yesterday when a man was murdered in a London cafe, writes Tim Kelsey.

Police believe the killing may be related to recent assaults blamed on Kurds and Turks involved in extortion rackets in the community. It may also be symptomatic of mounting animosity between Turks and Kurds, as civil war between Kurdish separatists and the government intensifies in south-eastern Turkey. The man, Mehmet Kaygisiz, 33, from Wood Green, north London, was shot while sitting in a Turkish cafe in Mildmay Park, Islington.

Local people said that they thought he was a Kurdish trader who was complaining of pressure from unknown sources who demanded money from him in order to 'protect' his business. 'The murder is awful. I wouldn't have expected it to have happened here. We chat, drink tea, coffee and play backgammon,' one said.

Complaints about protection rackets, blackmail and extortion became so widespread that police set up a special unit to investigate late last year. Officers working with the unit said the number of reported incidents has declined but they believe that extortion persists.

Much of it is thought to be by sympathisers of Dev-Sol, a Turkish terrorist organisation which is not banned in the United Kingdom, and the Kurdish Workers' Party, PKK, a separatist group.