Relations between Europe and Turkey took a turn for the worse over the weekend after The Netherlands banned Turkish ministers from addressing a rally in Rotterdam on Saturday. Turkey responded by sealing the Dutch embassy in Ankara and consulate in Istanbul and telling the ambassador that it did not want him to return from his leave “for some time”, Reuters reported.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the country a “Nazi remnant” and hinted at restricting the movement of Dutch nationals into Turkey. Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Erdogan’s reference to Nazism was “a crazy remark”. “I understand they are angry but this is of course way out of line,” Rutte said.
The Turkish ministers were trying to garner support among Turkish emigres for a campaign seeking an increase in Erdogan’s powers. The campaign will be voted on at a referendum soon.
On Saturday, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was prevented from flying to Rotterdam. The spat snowballed after Dutch police allegedly prevented Turkey’s family minister from entering the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam. Dutch police personnel used dogs, water cannons and charged on horseback to disperse the protesters gathered outside the embassy.
On Twitter, Turkey’s family minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya said, “The world must take a stance in the name of democracy against this fascist act! This behavior against a female minister can never be accepted,” she said. The Rotterdam mayor confirmed she was being escorted by police to the German border.
An anti-Islamic party is likely to be voted to power in the Netherlands’ elections next week. Dutch politicians have supported the government’s stance on refusing to “cooperate in the public political campaigning of Turkish ministers in the Netherlands.”
On March 3, German officials had evacuated the Gaggenau town based on a bomb threat that followed its mayor’s cancellation of an event involving the participation of Turkey’s justice minister. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to prevent a spillover of the Turkish tension on German territory. Austria and Switzerland too have cancelled Turkish rallies.
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