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| Turkey summons Dutch envoy over riot police tactics in Rotterdam | Turkey summons Dutch envoy over riot police tactics in Rotterdam |
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| Turkey has summoned the Dutch envoy in Ankara to complain about the actions of Rotterdam police against protesters after a Turkish minister was blocked from visiting her country’s consulate in the city. | Turkey has summoned the Dutch envoy in Ankara to complain about the actions of Rotterdam police against protesters after a Turkish minister was blocked from visiting her country’s consulate in the city. |
| Dutch police used dogs and water cannon on Sunday to disperse hundreds of protesters waving Turkish flags. Turkey’s foreign ministry said the intervention was disproportionate and called for legal action against police misconduct. | Dutch police used dogs and water cannon on Sunday to disperse hundreds of protesters waving Turkish flags. Turkey’s foreign ministry said the intervention was disproportionate and called for legal action against police misconduct. |
| Tensions between the countries have escalated in a row over Ankara’s political campaigning abroad. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is looking to the large number of Turks living in Europe to help secure victory next month in a referendum that would give his office increased powers. | |
| The foreign ministry said it had handed the Dutch embassy’s chargé d’affaires, Daan Feddo Huisinga, two formal notes. The first protested against practices it said were contrary to international conventions, diplomatic courtesy, and diplomatic immunities and requested a written apology from the Dutch authorities. | The foreign ministry said it had handed the Dutch embassy’s chargé d’affaires, Daan Feddo Huisinga, two formal notes. The first protested against practices it said were contrary to international conventions, diplomatic courtesy, and diplomatic immunities and requested a written apology from the Dutch authorities. |
| The second note protested against the treatment of Turkish citizens who had gathered outside the consulate in Rotterdam, saying “disproportionate force” had been used against “people using their right to peaceful gatherings”. | The second note protested against the treatment of Turkish citizens who had gathered outside the consulate in Rotterdam, saying “disproportionate force” had been used against “people using their right to peaceful gatherings”. |
| Erdoğan provoked outrage on Saturday when he told a rally in Istanbul that the Dutch government were “Nazi remnants” after Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya, Turkey’s minister for families, was escorted back to Germany by police. | Erdoğan provoked outrage on Saturday when he told a rally in Istanbul that the Dutch government were “Nazi remnants” after Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya, Turkey’s minister for families, was escorted back to Germany by police. |
| “If you can sacrifice Turkish-Dutch relations for an election on Wednesday, you will pay the price,” Erdoğan said. “I thought Nazism was over, but I was wrong. In fact, Nazism is alive in the west.” | |
| At the weekend the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, who faces a stiff political test in parliamentary elections on Wednesday, said Turkey had crossed a diplomatic line. | At the weekend the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, who faces a stiff political test in parliamentary elections on Wednesday, said Turkey had crossed a diplomatic line. |
| “This has never happened before – a country saying someone is not welcome and then them coming regardless,” he said, referring to Kaya’s decision to travel to Rotterdam by car after her colleague, the foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, was banned from flying in to the Netherlands. | “This has never happened before – a country saying someone is not welcome and then them coming regardless,” he said, referring to Kaya’s decision to travel to Rotterdam by car after her colleague, the foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, was banned from flying in to the Netherlands. |
| On Sunday Çavuşoğlu called the Netherlands the “capital of fascism” while addressing a rally in Metz, France. | On Sunday Çavuşoğlu called the Netherlands the “capital of fascism” while addressing a rally in Metz, France. |
| The Turkish ministers had wanted to address a gathering of Dutch Turks, many of whom have dual nationality, before next month’s referendum on a new law to increase Erdoğan’s presidential powers. The Netherlands opposed the visit because it was too close to the parliamentary election, but the lingering row now threatens to overshadow the rest of the domestic campaign. | The Turkish ministers had wanted to address a gathering of Dutch Turks, many of whom have dual nationality, before next month’s referendum on a new law to increase Erdoğan’s presidential powers. The Netherlands opposed the visit because it was too close to the parliamentary election, but the lingering row now threatens to overshadow the rest of the domestic campaign. |
| The far-right leader Geert Wilders, whose Freedom party is projected to win 20-25 seats and could become the main opposition group in the Netherlands, tweeted: “The Netherlands can see that these people are Turks, not Dutch. They have Dutch passports, but they don’t belong here.” | |
| The dispute between the Dutch and Turkish governments follows tensions between Berlin and Ankara last week over similar visits mooted by Turkish ministers to rally Germany-based Turks. Çavuşoğlu was banned from speaking in Hamburg, prompting Erdoğan to compare Germany’s government with that of the Nazi era. | The dispute between the Dutch and Turkish governments follows tensions between Berlin and Ankara last week over similar visits mooted by Turkish ministers to rally Germany-based Turks. Çavuşoğlu was banned from speaking in Hamburg, prompting Erdoğan to compare Germany’s government with that of the Nazi era. |
| On Sunday the row spread further as the prime minister of another Nato ally, Lars Løkke Rasmussen of Denmark, postponed a visit scheduled for next weekend by the Turkish prime minister, Binali Yıldırım. | On Sunday the row spread further as the prime minister of another Nato ally, Lars Løkke Rasmussen of Denmark, postponed a visit scheduled for next weekend by the Turkish prime minister, Binali Yıldırım. |
| “With the current Turkish attacks on Holland the meeting can not be seen separated from that. I have therefore proposed to my Turkish colleague that the meeting will be postponed,” Rasmussen said. | |
| The Dutch government has also updated its travel advice for Turkey, warning about the heightened diplomatic tensions. “Be alert and avoid gatherings and busy places throughout Turkey,” it says. |