Enfield councillors Susan Erbil, far left, Guney Dogan, back, second from right, and Saray Karakus, back third from right

Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) has begun an inquiry into claims that a London council has been “taken over” by a religious minority group and the extended family of a convicted criminal.

Up to a dozen Labour councillors in Enfield, north London, were deselected in the run-up to May’s elections, or stood down to avoid deselection, and replaced by members of the Alevi community, a religious minority comprising Turks and Kurds. Large numbers of Kurdish and Turkish members joined the party ahead of the selection process. More than 40% of the council’s ruling Labour group is now Kurdish, Turkish or Turkish Cypriot, though the three groups together make up only 10% of the borough’s population.

At least six Labour councillors are related to Nesimi Erbil,