The full text of a letter from Enfield councillor Chris Joannides to Londra Gazete and the Turkish Cypriot community, written after he was expelled from the Conservative Party
As you are aware the Conservative Party nationally decided to suspend my membership for 12 months, allegedly as a precautionary measure. By effectively barring me from standing in May’s local elections, Conservative Headquarters have taken upon themselves the right to decide whether I am fit to represent the good people of Grange ward on Enfield Council, a right that properly lies with the Grange ward electorate. In so doing, they have punished me disproportionately, while leaving untouched others who have said and done far worse, including calling Edmonton a “UN Feeding Station”.
I remain baffled as to why the national Conservative Party, which surely has better things to do, would side with a petty faction that is more interested in undermining its own colleagues than in taking the fight to the shoddy Labour administration which is running and ruining the borough of Enfield.
I refused to resign from the Conservative Group Whip back in February 2013 as I knew that I was innocent and had to wait nearly a year for this to be proved. The Police conducted an investigation and the CPS decided that no legal action against me was warranted. I had been investigated and cleared by my local association and was given the green light to stand again following my approval by the selection committee.
Much of the Facebook material and comments have been grossly and selectively redacted so as to render the context and in many cases the meaning incomprehensible or skewed. The picture of the two women in burkas with black dustbin bags either side was shared on my Facebook wall by a friend of mine named Raziye Ki who is of Turkish Cypriot extraction and her family roots hail from Lourougina (Akıncılar).
I am fully aware of who the complainants are – including the Greek-Cypriot “whistle blower” who calls herself Maria – although we know her by her real name Angela, who was a former Facebook friend but due to personal reasons we had a falling out.
It is a shame that the complainants didn’t publish my holiday pictures that was on my Facebook account visiting many predominately Muslim countries including Turkey, Albania, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and Libya. It is also a shame that they didn’t share my photos and works with Imam Shakir at the Hala Sultan Tekke Mosque in the Salt Lake of Larnaca (fourth important pilgrimage site in Islam after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem). It is also a shame that they didn’t share my photos of the Green Line Project which I had helped to clean up two Mosques in Kalo Chorio (Vudi) and in Gialia (Yayla) in the Pafos/Baf district back in the summer of 2007. In 2008, I had escorted elderly friend of mine name Hasan Ibrahim to visit his village of Agios Sozomenos (Arapik) before he passed away which he had not visited since 1974 and had no living relatives that would of escorted him there.
When I was elected as a Councillor back in 2006 I had openly supported the town twinning of Enfield with an Istanbul suburb, Sarıyer, despite heavy criticism from my own Greek-Cypriot community especially in the local press. This was a Conservative initiative that was rejected by the then Labour opposition on the Council.
My only message is that I have many Turkish Cypriot friends who I have made over the years and kept in contact. I was touched by their support over the last year and their readiness to provide help and character references when required. Life goes on and, asthe old Cypriot saying goes, “one door closes for another one to open”.
Teşekkür Ederim,
Cllr Chris Joannides