Luton councillor suspended for '˜glorifying Hitler'

A Luton councillor has been suspended from the Labour party over claims she glorified Adolf Hitler in a series of anti-semitic tweets.
Cllr Gurbuz was elected in May 2015Cllr Gurbuz was elected in May 2015
Cllr Gurbuz was elected in May 2015

Post uncovered by the Campaign Against Antisemitism show Cllr Aysegul Gurbuz claiming on her personal Twitter account that Hitler was the “greatest man on earth” and that without the Holocaust “these Jews would’ve wiped Palestine years ago”.

Another tweet shows Cllr Gurbuz joking: “Iran are going to have their own nuclear weapon and are going to wipe Israel off the map”.

The messages – dated from between October 2011 and July 2014 – were all posted before Miss Gurbuz was elected as a Labour councillor for High Town last May.

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Cllr Gurbuz, who has since taken down her Twitter account, reportedly told the Campaign Against Antisemitism: “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.”

Cllr Gurbuz, 20, is currently a student at the University of Warwick- where she volunteers as the event co-ordinator for the student union’s Palestine Society.

In a statement the Campaign Against Antisemitism said that there is “no defence” for the posts.

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It added: “The Holocaust was a uniquely dark chapter of our recent history, when more than six million Jews were murdered as part of a plan put in place by Adolf Hitler.

“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.

“Antisemitism 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.

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

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Councillor Gurbuz has been suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation.”

Cllr Gurbuz was unavailable for comment when contacted by the Luton News.