urkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan inspects a guard of honor during the official welcome for him at Brussels' Royal palace | OLIVIER HOSLET/ EPA Dutch Labour Party kicked out Erdoğan loyalists: chairman Members affiliated with Erdoğan’s AK Party tried to get elected for positions including Amsterdam municipal councillor.

The Dutch Labour Party removed several candidates from its ballot lists at the 2014 local elections over fears they had links to the conservative party of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Labour Chairman Hans Spekman said in an article published in newspaper NRC on Wednesday that he was informed members of the youth division of Erdoğan's AK Party "tried to enter ballot lists."

"We [the party's board] tipped off municipalities and told them that [the candidates] have wrong intentions," Spekman said. Those candidates were then removed from the ballot.

He did not say how many candidates and which municipalities were affected, but sources told NRC one of them was running to become a municipal councillor in Amsterdam.

Spekman said he will monitor candidates for next year's parliamentary elections for their "progressive values," referring to their views on homosexuality and gender equality.

"I believe that you enter the list because you want to become a representative, not because you want to get many votes [for personal gains]," he said.

Labour's management said that it will check candidates after two of its MPs with Turkish origins left the party after clashing with integration minister Lodewijk Asscher over his stand towards Turkish organizations in the Netherlands.