Dutch block Turkish official’s visit, rally
Erdogan slams Netherlands after his foreign minister’s campaign stop thwarted
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — A dispute between NATO allies Turkey and the Netherlands escalated Saturday as the Dutch blocked a campaign visit by the Turkish foreign minister, prompting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to call them fascists.
The Netherlands withdrew the landing permission for Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu because of objections to his intention to rally in Rotterdam for a Turkish referendum on constitutional overhauls to expand presidential powers, which the Dutch see as a step backward from democracy.
“They do not know politics or international diplomacy,” Erdogan said at a rally in Istanbul. “These Nazi remnants, they are fascists,” he added, as the crowd booed.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who was campaigning before March 15 elections in the Netherlands, said Erdogan’s comments were “way out of line” and “unacceptable.” Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders called Erdogan a “dictator” and told Turkish officials to stay away.
Erdogan said at the rally, “You can stop our foreign minister’s plane all you want, let’s see how your [diplomatic] planes will come to Turkey from now on.”
Cavusoglu also referred to possible sanctions, and Rutte said consultations under such threats were impossible, forcing him to bar the visit.
The government said it withdrew the permission because of “risks to public order and security,” causing Cavusoglu to say, “so is the foreign minister of the Turkish republic a terrorist?”
He added that “we will give them the response they deserve.”
Cavusoglu, who was speaking at Istanbul’s airport, didn’t say where his next European destination was. French authorities say he’s scheduled to travel to the northern city of Metz today. Turkish officials have been campaigning in various European cities before the April 16 referendum.
About 100 people marched in Istanbul to protest the Dutch decision, with demonstrators placing a black wreath in front of the Dutch Consulate amid a heavy police presence. In Rotterdam, about 100 pro-Turkish demonstrators had gathered outside the Turkish Consulate with flags in a peaceful protest after the acrimonious words between both governments.
The crowd outside the Turkish Consulate grew early today to about 1,000 people after Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya was prevented by police from entering it after traveling to the Netherlands from Germany.
She said the “Netherlands is violating all international laws, conventions and human rights by not letting me enter.” Early today, NOS network showed pictures of a woman, protesting, being taken to another car.
Kaya tweeted that she was being escorted to the town of Nijmegen, near the border with Germany.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a statement today that his country will strongly respond to the “unacceptable treatment” by the Dutch authorities.
The diplomatic row comes at a time when relations between Turkey and the European Union, of which the Netherlands is a member, have been steadily worsening, especially in the wake of Erdogan’s actions since last year’s failed coup. More than 41,000 people have been arrested and 100,000 civil servants fired from their jobs.
Cavusoglu said that “unfortunately Europe and several countries in Europe, the Netherlands being in the first place, they are reminiscent of the Europe of World War II. The same racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, we see all the crimes against humanity in today’s politics.”
The dispute also comes in the days before the Netherlands holds an election Wednesday for the lower house of parliament. The campaign has been dominated by issues of identity.
After Wilders, an anti-Islam candidate, accused the government of a weak response to Turkish plans to send ministers to the Netherlands to campaign, he insisted that it was his pressure that made the difference.
“Great! Thanks to heavy PVV- pressure a few days before the Dutch elections our government did NOT allow the Turkish minister to land here!!,” he said in a Twitter message, referring to his Party for Freedom.
Earlier Saturday, Cavusoglu said, “Wilders is racist, fascist, Nazi, like a Nazi.”
The Dutch government said it does not object to meetings in the Netherlands to give information about the Turkish referendum, “but these meetings should not add to tensions in our society and everybody who wants to organize a meeting must adhere to instructions from authorities so that public order and security can be guaranteed.”