Turkey told the Netherlands on Sunday that it would retaliate in the “harshest ways” after
Turkish ministers were barred from speaking in Rotterdam, as a row over Ankara’s political
campaigning among Turkish immigrants escalated.
Reuters reports that President Tayyip Erdogan said, “Nazism is still widespread in the West”
after the Netherlands joined other European countries worried about political tensions inside
Turkey spilling beyond its borders that have prevented Turkish politicians from holding rallies.
The Dutch government on Saturday first barred Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu from
flying to Rotterdam and later stopped Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya from entering the
Turkish consulate in the port city, before escorting her out of the country to Germany.
Dutch police used dogs and water cannon early on Sunday to disperse hundreds of protesters waving
Turkish flags outside the consulate in Rotterdam. Some threw bottles and stones and several
demonstrators were beaten by police with batons, a Reuters witness said. Officers carried out
charges on horseback.
The Dutch government, which is set to lose about half its seats in elections this week as the
anti-Islam party of Geert Wilders makes strong gains, said the ministers’ visits were undesirable
and it would not cooperate in their political campaigning in the Netherlands.
“If you can sacrifice Turkish-Dutch relations for an election on Wednesday, you will pay the
price,” Erdogan said in a speech at an awards ceremony in Istanbul.
“I thought Nazism was dead, but I was wrong. Nazism is still widespread in the West,” he said.
“The West has shown its true face.”
Speaking to reporters before a public appearance in the northeastern French city of Metz,
Cavusoglu said Turkey would continue to act against the Netherlands until it apologizes.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said he would do everything to “de-escalate” the confrontation,
which he described as the worst the Netherlands had experienced in years.
But he said the idea of apologizing was “bizarre”.