Turkish president
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan brands the Netherlands “Nazi remnants” and
“fascists” after the Dutch government withdrew permission for
Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, to land there for a
planned visit. At a rally in Istanbul on Saturday Erdoğan says the
Dutch don’t know anything about international diplomacy, while
Cavusoglu appears on Turkish television to promise “heavy
consequences” for the decision
Netherlands
bars Turkish ministers as 'Nazi remnant' dispute escalates
Riot
police clash with Turkish ex-pats after members of the Erdoğan
government are prevented from campaigning among supporters
Reuters
Sunday
12 March 2017 03.43 GMT
The Netherlands has
barred Turkish ministers from speaking in Rotterdam in a row over
Ankara’s political campaigning among emigres, leading President
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to brand its fellow Nato member a “Nazi
remnant”.
The dispute
escalated into a major diplomatic incident on Saturday night when
Turkey’s family minister was prevented by police from entering her
country’s consulate in Rotterdam. Hundreds of protesters waving
Turkish flags gathered outside, demanding to see the minister.
Dutch police used
dogs and water cannon early on Sunday to disperse the crowd, which
threw bottles and stones. Several demonstrators were beaten by police
with batons, a witness said. They carried out charges on horseback,
while officers advanced on foot with shields and armoured vans.
Less than a day
after Dutch authorities prevented foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu
from flying to Rotterdam, Turkey’s family minister, Fatma Betul
Sayan Kaya, said on Twitter she was being escorted back to Germany.
“The world must
take a stance in the name of democracy against this fascist act! This
behaviour against a female minister can never be accepted,” she
said. The Rotterdam mayor confirmed she had been escorted by police
to the German border.
The Dutch
government, which stands to lose heavily to the anti-Islam party of
Geert Wilders in elections next week, said it considered the visits
undesirable and “could not cooperate in the public political
campaigning of Turkish ministers in the Netherlands”.
The government said
it saw the potential to import divisions into its own Turkish
minority, which has both pro- and anti-Erdoğan camps. Dutch
politicians across the spectrum said they supported prime minister
Mark Rutte’s decision to ban the visits.
Turkey’s foreign
ministry said it did not want the Dutch ambassador to Ankara to
return from leave “for some time”. Turkish authorities sealed off
the Dutch embassy in Ankara and consulate in Istanbul in apparent
retaliation and hundreds gathered there for protests at the Dutch
action.
Erdoğan is looking
to the large number of emigre Turks living in Europe, especially in
Germany and the Netherlands, to help clinch victory next month in a
referendum that would give the presidency sweeping new powers.
German chancellor
Angela Merkel has said she will do everything possible to prevent
Turkish political tensions spilling onto German soil. Four rallies in
Austria and one in Switzerland have been cancelled due to the growing
dispute.
Erdoğan has cited
domestic threats from Kurdish and Islamist militants and a July coup
bid as cause to vote “yes” to his new powers. But he has also
drawn on the emotionally charged row with Europe to portray Turkey as
betrayed by allies while facing wars on its southern borders.
The Dutch government
had banned foreign minister Cavusoglu from attending a rally on
Saturday in Rotterdam but he said he would fly there anyway, saying
Europe must be rid of its “boss-like attitude”.
Cavusoglu, who was
barred from a similar meeting in Hamburg last week but spoke instead
from the Turkish consulate, accused the Dutch of treating the many
Turkish citizens in the country like hostages, cutting them off from
Ankara.
“If my going will
increase tensions, let it be ... I am a foreign minister and I can go
wherever I want,” he added hours before his planned flight to
Rotterdam was banned.
Cavusoglu threatened
harsh economic and political sanctions if the Dutch refused him
entry, and those threats proved decisive for the Netherlands
government.
It cited public
order and security concerns in withdrawing landing rights for
Cavusoglu’s flight and said the threat of sanctions made the search
for a reasonable solution impossible.
“This decision is
a scandal and unacceptable in every way. It does not abide by
diplomatic practices,” Cavusoglu told reporters in Istanbul on
Saturday evening.
Wilders, polling
second ahead of Wednesday’s elections, said in a tweet on Saturday:
“To all Turks in the Netherlands who agree with Erdogan: Go to
Turkey and NEVER come back!!”
Rutte said: “This
morning on TV [the Turkish minister] made clear he was threatening
the Netherlands with sanctions and we can never negotiate with the
Turks under such threats. So we decided ... in a conference call it
was better for him not to come.”
Addressing a rally
of supporters in Istanbul on Saturday, Erdoğan retaliated against
the decision to prevent the Turkish foreign minister from visiting
Rotterdam.
“Listen
Netherlands, you’ll jump once, you’ll jump twice, but my people
will thwart your game,” he said. “You can cancel our foreign
minister’s flight as much as you want, but let’s see how your
flights will come to Turkey now.”
Rutte called
Erdogan’s reference to Nazis and fascists “a crazy remark”. He
added: “I understand they’re angry but this is of course way out
of line.”
Erdoğan chafes at
western criticism of his mass arrests and dismissals of people
authorities believe were linked to a failed July attempt by the
military to topple him.
He maintains it is
clear the west begrudges him new powers and seeks to engineer a “no”
vote in the referendum.
Barred from the
Netherlands, Cavusoglu arrived in France on Saturday ahead of a
planned speech to Turkish emigres in the north-eastern city of Metz
on Sunday, a Reuters witness said. Earlier, an official at the
Moselle regional prefecture told Reuters there were no plans to
prevent the meeting from going ahead.
A member of the
Union of European Turkish Democrats also said on Saturday via a
Facebook post that the Turkish foreign minister would no longer come
to Switzerland for a planned event on Sunday after failing to find a
suitable venue.
Zurich’s security
department, which had unsuccessfully lobbied the federal government
in Bern to ban Cavusoglu’s appearance, said in a statement on
Saturday evening it was relieved the event had been cancelled.
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