A Turkish-origin mayor and lawmaker in Belgium was expelled from the Socialist Party (PS) after accepting a delegation including members of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Euronews Turkish reported on Saturday.

The mayor of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode and PS deputy Emir Kır was dismissed from the party following a disciplinary committee meeting on Friday, it said.

The 51-year-old mayor welcomed earlier this month a number of Turkish mayors, including those from the MHP, who arrived in Brussels for EU meetings.

Reports emerged in Belgian press soon after the meeting that Kır had hosted "far-right" political bodies.

Turkey’s ultra-nationalist MHP, which was founded in 1969, formed an alliance with Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) ahead of the June 2018 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Kır in a post on social media said he is very disappointed with the PS’ decision, which he has the right to appeal.

"In life, you can run away from everything but your conscience. My conscience is clear, just as it was during the days I first entered politics. I am proud of the services I have provided for the people,’’ Kır said.

Kır was elected as the mayor of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, one of the nineteen municipalities located in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium, in 2012 before being elected to the lower house of Belgium's federal parliament in 2014 and re-elected in 2019.