Labour’s claims to want to fight Islamophobia have been branded “hypocritical” after Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy told a Muslim group that he was “too busy” to meet them.
The refusal to meet representatives of the hundreds of thousands of Turkish Cypriots living in the UK has provoked outrage in the wake of claims by Labour that it wants to fight Islamophobia.
This year will mark the 50th anniversary of the isolation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) after the Turkish army intervened to prevent the massacre of Cypriot Muslims when a military junta took over the island intending to unite it with Greece.
The crisis in 1974 led to the division of the island with the TRNC unrecognised and isolated by the international community despite evidence that the massacres and possible attempts at ethnic cleansing were initiated by Greek Cypriots.
Even direct flights to the TRNC are banned forcing the thousands of Turkish Cypriots living in the UK to go via Turkey if they want to visit relatives or their homeland.
When Sir Keir Starmer produced a video marking Islamophobia month in November last year, representatives of the Turkish Cypriots wrote to him asking if he would meet to discuss their continued “persecution” five decades on.
But sir Keir replied promising that Mr Lammy, his Shadow Foreign Secretary, would meet them instead.
However, Mr Lammy this week wrote back snubbing the meeting.
His office wrote: “I am afraid given the pressures on Mr Lammy’s diary in the coming months he will not be able to meet with these Turkish Cypriot community groups. Please pass his apologies on to them.
“I would suggest contacting Stephen Doughty, who is Labour Shadow Minister for Europe, North America and the Overseas Territories.”
The original letter last year had come after both Starmer and Lammy had made efforts to meet pro-Palestinian groups in the wake of Hamas’ atrocities on Israel.
The letter warned: “Carefully cherry-picking instances of Islamophobia to condemn while ignoring others is hypocrisy at its worst.”
Following Mr Lammy’s snub, a Turkish Cypriot source told Express.co.uk: “Clearly Labour’s commitment to tackling Islamophobia is paper thin. It does not go beyond hypocritical self-promoting video and a crude use of identity politics to win votes rather than tackling the difficult issues which lie behind everyday discrimination faced by different Muslim groups.”
The source noted that as well as being Shadow Foreign Secretary Mr Lammy is the Labour Party’s highest second job earner, raking in more than a quarter of a million pounds since the 2019 Parliament began. This includes £100,000 as a DJ for LBC Radio, and thousands of pounds gallivanting across the globe giving speeches.
The source went on: “The international isolation and abandonment of the Muslim community in Northern Cyprus has been horrifying. It is very disappointing that the man set to be the next Foreign Secretary cares so little about our experience of Islamophobia. He has plenty of time to line his pockets, but none to listen to the religious discrimination we have faced.”
Mr Lammy has made tackling racism a central part of his career as an MP often making gaffes as a result.
This included famously responding to a BBC news item in 2013, about the chimney erected over the Sistine Chapel during the vote for the next Pope, that said: “Will smoke be black or white?” with the response: “This tweet from the BBC is crass and unnecessary. Do we really need silly innuendo about the race of the next Pope?”
Seven community groups representing 300,000 Turkish Cypriots living in the UK wrote to Labour Leader, Keir Starmer, highlighting the Islamophobia they have faced through international isolation and abandonment, and asked for a meeting which has so far been denied.
