Two people have been convicted in connection with a war between two gangs in north London. One local MP fears a "mafia-style" conflict.
There have been demonstrations against the gangs in north London
When 20-year-old Yusuf Arslan was stopped in the street one night in September last year he was not cowed by the sight of armed police.
Quite the opposite.
Kitted out in body armour, he claimed he was one of the main players in north London and could get hold of better weapons than Scotland Yard's Heckler & Koch MP5 sub-machine guns.
A few weeks later Arslan, whose Tottenham Boys gang are involved in a bloody feud with the rival Hackney Turks, was on the streets again seeking to back up his boasts.
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Armed with a Croatian-made Agram sub-machine gun, he flagged down a Ford Transit van in a Tottenham street.
He fired four shots at the occupants, Nasir Demir and Hamit Koban, but they escaped serious injury by reversing the van away at high speed.
At Arslan's recent trial Mr Demir, giving evidence from behind a curtain, said he was an innocent businessman but, asked why he had been shot at, he said: "Gang-related. Because they want control. If you ever get in the way they get you out of the way."
There are an estimated 50,000 Turks and 200,000 Kurds in London, not including Turkish Cypriots.
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I'm genuinely worried about the escalation of violence and the young lives that are being lost in this parallel world of criminality”
David Lammy
MP for Tottenham
The Tottenham Boys and Hackney Turks gangs are understood to include both Turks and Kurds.
The feud has claimed at least two lives in the last 12 months - Oktay Erbasli, 23, and Cem Duzgun, 21 - and one local MP believes the violence could get worse.
David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, told the BBC: "Gang-related activity in the Turkish-speaking community is a serious issue on the streets of London and we need far more focused action.
"We need far more Turkish-speaking officers dealing with this and I sense that the community itself is fearful and racketeering, money laundering and intimidation is going on and it has to come to an end."
Mr Lammy said: "I'm genuinely worried about the escalation of violence and the young lives that are being lost in this parallel world of criminality.
"I don't want to see the kind of developments that exist in New York played out in the streets of London, a kind of mafia-style community."
Aug 2007 - Yusuf Arslan, then 17, is shot in Tottenham but survives
2 Sep 2009 - Arslan (pictured) arrested wearing body armour and brags to armed police about his firepower
28 Sep 2009 - Arslan's friend Izzet Eren shot and injured in Tottenham
30 Sep 2009 - Arslan shoots at two men in a van in Tottenham
3 Oct 2009 - Arslan's friend, Oktay Erbasli, killed in Tottenham
5 Oct 2009 - Cem Duzgun (pictured) shot dead in Clapton
8 Oct 2009 - Arslan arrested but released
9 Dec 2009 - Arslan and two others arrested and charged
Sep 2010 - Arslan and another man convicted
Oct 2010 Arslan jailed indefinitely
Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson rejected the criticism and said: "This is a challenge but we have had some successes."
A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said the force had 24 Turkish-speaking officers and she said officers from the Safer Neighbourhoods Team in Hackney had recently visited Istanbul, Kahramanmaras and Elbistan as guests of the Turkish police.
She said they were now devising a training package to help them working among Hackney's Turkish population.
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