Growing Tension as Turkey Accuses Dutch Govt of Acting Like ‘Nazis’

“I am going to Rotterdam today (Saturday)”, Cavusoglu told CNN-Turk television in an interview.

In addition, Turkey’s deputy Prime Minister, Numan Kurtulmus, announced that his country would close its airspace to Dutch diplomats in response to a ban on Turkish ministers speaking at political rallies in the Netherlands.

Several newspaper editorials on Monday also noted that the situation would perhaps not have gotten out of control if Turkish foreign minister Cavusoglu had been allowed to hold his rally in Rotterdam, and that the Dutch government had allowed itself to be provoked.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said it did not want the Dutch ambassador – who is now on leave – to return to Turkey “for some time”.

The Dutch government on withdrew landing permission for the Turkish foreign minister’s aircraft earlier on Saturday, escalating a diplomatic dispute between the two North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies over campaigning for a Turkish referendum on constitutional reform.

Mevlut Cavusoglu had been due to address a Turkish rally as part of a campaign to win expats’ support for a constitutional referendum that could give the president sweeping new powers.

But Cavusoglu said on Saturday morning he would fly to the city anyway and accused the Dutch of treating Turkish citizens in the country like “hostages”.

In Istanbul, the Dutch flag was replaced with the Turkish one, according to the Associated Press.

“Ban our foreign minister from flying however much you like, but from now on let’s see how your flights will land in Turkey”, Erdogan said.

The travel advice also recommended following news from the Dutch embassy in Ankara and the Consulate General in Istanbul, despite the Turkey foreign ministry telling the Dutch ambassador, who was away over the weekend, that he does not need to return for some time.

Although it was unclear whether Turkish threats included economic sanctions, Ankara would “suffer far more than The Netherlands” from such a move, said Erik-Jan Zurcher, professor of Turkish studies at Leiden University.

“Certainly in recent history it’s the biggest diplomatic crisis between the two countries”, said Erdogan Aykac, a researcher in Turkish foreign relations at Groningen University. “These Nazi remnants, they are fascists”. “Regards. Amnesty International”, the organization said in a statement in Turkish. Amnesty is a London-based human rights organization. Both Germany and the Netherlands are in the middle of their own electoral campaigns, amidst a polarized political environment.

The Netherlands, with some 400,000 people of Turkish origin, and Germany, with 1.4 million, rank among top electoral bases for Turkish politicians.

Meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte yesterday said he would do everything to “de-escalate” the diplomatic confrontation with Turkey.

Although Berlin insisted that the string of cancellations by local authorities were down to logistical reasons, Turkish officials repeatedly hit back, leading to Erdogan’s angry “Nazi” remark.

About 1,000 people waving Turkish flags gathered on the street leading to the consulate, an AFP photographer saw, as tensions rocketed over rallies overseas to help Ankara gain backing for an April referendum vote.