Turkey, Holland in tit-for-tat row

Ankara seals off Dutch embassy after Turkish family minister expelled

Istanbul/ The Hague/Stockholm, March 12: Turkish authorities sealed off the Dutch embassy and consulate on Sunday, sources at Turkey’s foreign ministry said, in the latest incident in a tit-for-tat row between the two countries over Turkish campaigning in Europe.

Turkey also closed off the residences of the Dutch ambassador, charge d’affaires and consul general.

Police clashed with proErdogan demonstrators in the Netherlands on Saturday while in Istanbul on Sunday a man climbed onto the roof of the Dutch consulate and replaced the Dutch flag with a Turkish flag. The flag was later taken down.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned the Netherlands that it would pay a price for preventing top ministers from holding rallies ahead of a referendum on expanding his powers as the crisis escalated with key EU partners.

Turkey’s family minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya was expelled after being prevented from addressing a rally in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam.

Besides, The Hague refused to allow foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s plane to land ahead of a planned rally. “They will learn what diplomacy is,” Erdogan growled at a ceremony in Istanbul referring to the March 15 election.

Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in France that the Netherlands is the “capital of fascism”, the day after he was barred from speaking in the country to promote the referendum.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Sunday stood by his government’s decision to expel Kaya saying she had been an “undesirable” visitor to country.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called on his Turkish counterpart Binali