Reuters — Holland barred two Turkish ministers from speaking in Rotterdam on Saturday in a row over Ankara’s political campaigning among Turkish migrants, with President Tayyip Erdogan branding its fellow NATO member a “Nazi remnant”.
The dispute escalated into a major diplomatic incident when on Saturday, Turkey’s family minister, Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, was prevented by police from entering Holland by road from Germany. She was planning to visit the Turkish 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 Reuters witness said. They carried out charges on horseback, while officers advanced on foot with shields and armoured vans.
“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,” Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya said. The Rotterdam mayor confirmed she was being 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 “the Netherlands 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-Erdogan 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.
Erdogan 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.
Erdogan 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 Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu from entering Holland on Saturday a rally on Saturday.
Cavusoglu 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.
“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.
Addressing a rally of supporters, Erdogan retaliated against the decision to prevent Turkish ministers 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.”
“They don’t know diplomacy or politics. They are Nazi remnants. They are fascists,” he said.
Erdogan maintains 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 northeastern city of Metz on Sunday, Reuters reports.
