Elma Pazar’s ethnicity is Turkish Cypriot. She was born in Hackney, London, to parents from the Turkish Cypriot community, which makes her a British woman with Cypriot heritage rather than someone from mainland Turkey or Greece.
That single fact answers the search query. But there’s a lot more worth knowing about how her background shaped her life before Love Island, and why so many UK viewers want the full story.
What Is Elma Pazar’s Ethnicity?
Elma Pazar is of Turkish Cypriot descent, born and raised in London. Her parents come from the Turkish Cypriot community, one of the two main ethnic groups on the island of Cyprus, alongside Greek Cypriots.
This detail comes directly from her Wikipedia entry and several UK entertainment outlets, including Radio Times. It’s also consistent with public records: her full birth name, Elmaziye Pazar, appears on freeBMD, the UK’s free birth, marriage and death index.
So when people search “Elma Pazar ethnicity,” the short version is this: she’s British by nationality and Turkish Cypriot by heritage.
Who Is Elma Pazar?
Elma Pazar is an English television personality best known for two shows: Love Island and The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE). She first appeared on our screens in 2019 and has stuck around ever since, which says a lot in an industry where most reality stars vanish after one series.
She was born on 7 July 1992, making her 34 years old. Before the cameras found her, she worked as an eyelash technician, a job she actually returned to after leaving the Love Island villa the first time round.
Where Was Elma Pazar Born?
Elma Pazar was born in Hackney, East London. Hackney happens to be one of the boroughs with a historically strong Turkish and Turkish Cypriot population, alongside Enfield, Haringey and Islington.
That’s not a coincidence. Turkish Cypriot families began settling in these parts of North and East London from the 1950s onwards, and many communities are still rooted there today.
What Does It Mean to Be Turkish Cypriot?
Turkish Cypriot refers to people from Cyprus who identify with Turkish ethnicity, language and, often, Islamic faith. It’s distinct from Greek Cypriot identity, which is tied to Greek language, culture and mostly Orthodox Christianity.
Cyprus has a long, complicated history. The island was split in 1974 following a coup and a subsequent Turkish military intervention, which eventually led to the north declaring itself the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1983. Many Turkish Cypriots left the island in the decades before and after this, with a large number settling permanently in the UK.
Elma Pazar’s family background sits within this wider story, even if her own life has played out entirely in London.
How Big Is the Turkish Cypriot Community in the UK?
The Turkish Cypriot community in Britain is genuinely sizeable. According to Wikipedia’s overview of Turkish Cypriots worldwide, the UK is home to an estimated 300,000 to 400,000 people of Turkish Cypriot descent once you include British born children and grandchildren.
Almost all of that population lives in and around London. Academic research from the Migration Institute notes that around 90 percent of the wider Turkish speaking population in Britain, which includes Turkish Cypriots, is based in the capital.
That means Elma Pazar didn’t grow up as an outlier. She grew up inside one of London’s most established immigrant communities, with its own shops, mosques, social clubs and, unsurprisingly, some very good kebab houses.
What Did Elma Pazar Do Before Fame?
Before reality TV, Elma Pazar worked as an eyelash technician. It’s a detail that gets repeated across almost every profile of her, from ITVX to OK! magazine, because it’s true and it’s a bit endearing.
After she left the Love Island villa in 2019, having been voted off relatively early, she simply went back to doing lashes. There was no dramatic career pivot at that point, just a return to normal working life in Essex.
How Did Elma Pazar Become Famous?
Elma Pazar became a household name through three big TV moments: Love Island in 2019, TOWIE from 2022 onwards, and Love Island: All Stars in 2025. Each one built on the last, turning her from a brief bombshell into a proper fixture of British reality television.
Her Love Island Debut in 2019
Pazar entered the Love Island villa on Day 10 of series five as a bombshell, arriving alongside fellow newcomer Maura Higgins. She coupled up with Anton Danyluk, but the pair were voted one of the least compatible couples by the public.
As a result, Pazar was dumped from the island by her fellow contestants on Day 16. It’s also worth noting she later admitted to lying about her age to get on the show, a detail widely reported by Digital Spy at the time.
Joining TOWIE in 2022
Three years after Love Island, Pazar joined The Only Way Is Essex for its twenty ninth series in 2022. Unlike her short Love Island run, this stuck. She has remained a series regular ever since.
TOWIE gave her a much longer runway to build a fanbase, since the format follows the same cast across dozens of episodes rather than a single six week summer stint.
Returning for Love Island: All Stars in 2025
In 2025, Pazar returned to the Love Island franchise for the second series of Love Island: All Stars, a spin off that brings back fan favourites from previous seasons. This time, she went the distance, finishing in fifth place alongside fellow islander Sammy Root.
Going from being dumped on Day 16 in 2019 to finishing fifth in an All Stars season six years later is a decent redemption arc by reality TV standards.
Has Elma Pazar Spoken About Her Cypriot Heritage?
There’s no single viral interview where Pazar sits down and unpacks her heritage in depth, but her background is openly documented rather than hidden. Her real name, Elmaziye, and her parents’ Turkish Cypriot roots appear consistently across interviews, official records and cast profiles.
There’s also a fun little detail language fans enjoy pointing out: “Elma” is the Turkish word for apple. So in a roundabout way, her stage name is basically the Turkish version of “Apple,” which is a nicer origin story than most influencer names get.
Why Do Fans Search for Elma Pazar’s Ethnicity?
People search for a celebrity’s ethnicity for a few honest reasons: curiosity about representation, interest in cultural background, or simply wanting context after watching them on screen. Love Island and TOWIE both feature a fairly diverse cast, and viewers often want to know more about where their favourite islanders come from.
For the Turkish Cypriot community specifically, seeing someone from a relatively small diaspora group land a mainstream ITV role is a genuine point of pride. It’s a similar pattern to why British Nigerian, British Indian or British Jamaican audiences take notice when someone from their community appears on a major UK show.
Quick Facts About Elma Pazar
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Elmaziye Pazar |
| Date of birth | 7 July 1992 |
| Birthplace | Hackney, London |
| Ethnicity | Turkish Cypriot |
| Nationality | British |
| Former job | Eyelash technician |
| Known for | Love Island (2019), TOWIE (2022 to present), Love Island: All Stars (2025) |
| Love Island 2019 result | Dumped from the villa on Day 16 |
| Love Island: All Stars 2025 result | Finished in fifth place |
| Instagram following | Around 610,000 followers |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Elma Pazar Greek or Turkish?
Elma Pazar is of Turkish descent, specifically Turkish Cypriot, not Greek. This means her family background traces back to the Turkish community of Cyprus rather than the island’s Greek population.
Is Elma Pazar British?
Yes, Elma Pazar is British. She was born and raised in Hackney, London, and holds British nationality, even though her family heritage is Turkish Cypriot.
What is Elma Pazar’s real name?
Her full birth name is Elmaziye Pazar. “Elma Pazar” is the shortened version she uses professionally and on social media.
How old is Elma Pazar?
Elma Pazar was born on 7 July 1992, which makes her 34 years old as of 2026.
Was Elma Pazar’s family originally from Turkey or Cyprus?
Her family’s roots trace back to Cyprus rather than mainland Turkey. Turkish Cypriots are a distinct ethnic group from Turkish nationals, even though they share the same language and much of the same culture.
Final Thoughts
Elma Pazar’s ethnicity is Turkish Cypriot, and her story is really a London story first. She was born in Hackney to a community that has called parts of North and East London home for decades, worked an ordinary job as an eyelash technician, and then built a reality TV career that took her from a six day stint on Love Island to a fifth place finish on All Stars.
It’s a background worth knowing not just because it answers a search query, but because it says something about modern Britain: a Turkish Cypriot woman from Hackney becoming one of the more recognisable faces on ITV is exactly the kind of story British reality TV does well.
