Turkey makes double Dutch protest
Print Edition
TURKEY’S foreign ministry yesterday formally protested the treatment of a Turkish minister escorted out of the Netherlands over the weekend and what it called a “disproportionate” use of force against demonstrators at a later protest.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel weighed in on the Netherlands’ side, NATO’s chief called for members to respect each other, and the European Union urged Turkey to calm down.
The flap is over the Netherlands’ refusal to allow Turkish officials to campaign there to drum up support among Turks eligible to vote in an April 16 referendum that would greatly expand the powers of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan’s strong reaction to scenes of Dutch police repelling Turkish protesters is fueling nationalism back home and bolstering his image as a protector of Turkish people in a hostile world.
Turkey had a similar dispute with Germany last week, but the fight with the Netherlands comes as that country prepares for its own election tomorrow pitting Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s right-wing PVV Party against far-right, anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders’ party. Wilders had called on the Dutch government to bar Turkish ministers from the Netherlands until after the election.
Rutte, who did not want to be seen backing down to Turkish threats, enraged Ankara by refusing to let Turkey’s foreign minister land in the Netherlands on Saturday and denying its family and social policies minister access to the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam.
Erdogan vowed to retaliate against the Netherlands after claiming that “Nazism is alive in the West.” Merkel, speaking at a news conference in Munich yesterday, pledged her “full support and solidarity” to the Dutch, saying the Nazi gibes were “completely unacceptable.”
The European Union called on Turkey to “refrain from excessive statements and actions that risk further exacerbating the situation.” EU spokesman Margaritis Schinas said it was essential to avoid further escalation and find ways to calm the situation.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged members “to show mutual respect, to be calm and have a measured approach.”
The Dutch, meanwhile, issued a travel advisory for citizens to “be alert and avoid gatherings and busy places throughout Turkey.”
Earlier yesterday, Turkey summoned the Dutch embassy’s charge d’affaires, Daan Feddo Huisinga, to the foreign ministry, where a senior official handed him two formal protest notes. It was the third time the Dutch diplomat had been summoned since tensions broke out between the two countries.
The first was over the treatment of Family Affairs Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, who was escorted out of the Netherlands after she entered Germany to try to attend a rally to support the referendum. About 400,000 people with ties to Turkey live in the Netherlands.
The second concerned the treatment of Turkish citizens who gathered outside the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam on Saturday, saying “disproportionate force” had been used against them.
At a separate protest in Amsterdam on Sunday, police arrested 13 people, spokeswoman Marjolein Koek said. Media reports showed dogs and a water cannon being used to disperse protesters.
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