Aysegul Gurbuz: Labour councillor suspended after praising Hitler on social media

The 20-year-old called the German dictator the 'greatest man in history' on Twitter

Aysegul Gurbuz has deleted her Twitter account following the revelations (Getty Images)

A 20-year-old Labour councillor has been suspended from the party following allegations that she praised Hitler on social media.

Aysegul Gurbuz, who was the youngest person to be elected to Luton Borough Council in May last year, has been suspended from the party following an investigation by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism (CAAS).

Tweets on her profile - which has since been deleted - from between 2011 and 2014 praise Hitler as the “greatest man in history”and saying "the Jews are so powerful in the US it's disgusting".

In one post, it says: “If it wasn’t for my man Hitler these Jews would’ve wiped Palestine years ago. Sorry but it’s a fact. Not hating on Jews btw”.

(Twitter)

Another said it is impossible to sympathise with Jewish people for the crimes committed during the Holocaust “because they’re making Palestine live through the same thing”.

It comes as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the party is "absolutely resolute" on tackling "abhorrent" anti-Semitism.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday, Mr Corbyn said: "Anti-Semitism is absolutely abhorrent and wrong. Anyone that commits any act of anti-Semitism, that makes anti-Semitic remarks, is automatically excluded from the party and an inquiry follows immediately.

"We have suspended, we will suspend, any member that behaves in that way."

He has come under increasing scrutiny following a string of revelations about anti-semitic remarks made by Labour councillors and his own brother, Piers.

The posts on Cllr Gurbuz’s profile also contain references to Iran’s nuclear programme under former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and a hope that they will use it to wipe Israel “off the map”.

She is also a Politics with International Relations student at the University of Warwick and ran for the university’s Ethnic Minorities Officer with a manifesto commitment to raise more awareness of Holocaust Memorial Day.

She told CAAS her sister must have sent the messages as it was a joint account.

She said: “It was a joint account I had with my sister so I don’t know if she’s gone out and tweeted that, but I’m absolutely appalled right now.

“Where I live we’ve got very good cohesion with the Jewish community... I’m absolutely shocked.”

CAAS spokesman Jonathan Sacerdoti said: “Our investigations team found these antisemitic tweets on Aysegul Gurbuz’s personal account. Not only do the tweets glorify Hitler, they also express hope that Iran will wipe out another six million Jews in Israel with a nuclear weapon.

“Anti-semitism is rising in Europe and in the UK, and the regular revelations of antisemitic tweets and opinions emanating even from senior Labour party figures such as Sir Gerald Kaufman MP has failed to elicit any meaningful response from Jeremy Corbyn.

Jeremy Corbyn appeared on the Andrew Marr Show to defend the party's record on anti-semitism (BBC)

“How many more cases must we see before the Labour Party takes action?”

A Labour Party spokeswoman said: "Councillor Gurbuz has been suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation."

The Independent has contacted Cllr Gurbuz for comment.

Additional reporting by PA