Netherlands slams ‘irresponsible’ Turkish minister

The families of three Bosnian Muslims who were killed after leaving United Nations protection in 1995 have asked the European Court of Human Rights to prosecute three ex-UN commanders for their deaths, their lawyer said Sunday (25 October).

Erdogan, who was to address supporters on Sunday, reacted angrily, accusing the Dutch – who were once under Nazi occupation – of being “the vestiges of Nazis”.

Tensions continue to grow between North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies Turkey and the Netherlands on Sunday as a Turkish minister was escorted out of the country less than a day after Turkey’s foreign minister was denied entry, prompting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to call the Dutch “Nazi remnants”.

“Mrs Merkel, why are you hiding terrorists in your country?”.

The amendments to the constitution include the introduction of an executive presidency that would replace the existing parliamentary system of government and the abolition of the office of the Prime Minister.

“We are more than a simple market – that’s why today’s event is all the more important”.

One reason is that many European governments have expressed disquiet at Turkey’s response to a coup attempt against Mr Erdogan last July and a perceived slide towards authoritarianism, the BBC reported.

“We will never negotiate under the threat of sanctions”.

His comments sparked outrage in a country bombed and occupied by German forces in World War II.

“We know this well. Their history is dark but ours is clean”.

Speaking to WNL television on Sunday, Dutch Prime Mark Rutte defended his governments’ choices on Sunday.

“We won’t sink to that level”, he said.

He maintains it is clear the West begrudges him new powers and seeks to engineer a “no” vote in the referendum.German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country Erdogan compared last week with Nazi Germany, has said she will do everything possible to prevent any spillover of Turkish political tensions onto German soil.

The dust-up began because Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was planning to hold a rally for Turkish expatriates in support of Erdogan in Rotterham, a city near the coast of southern Holland. “Stay alert across the whole of Turkey and avoid gatherings and crowded places”, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

“The short-sighted statements of the European Union have absolutely no value for our country”, read a statement of the Turkish Foreign Ministry.

About 400,000 people with ties to Turkey live in the Netherlands.

On the Dutch side, Prime Minister Mark Rutte is demanding an apology from Turkey over the comparisons with Nazi officials, saying such remarks were unacceptable.

The Dutch ambassador to Ankara is on leave and Turkey has said it does not want him to return “for some time”. Turkish officials have been campaigning in various European cities before the April 16 referendum.

In Germany, there are over 1.4 million Turkish citizens eligible to vote.

Some of the rallies in the Netherlands were planned for this weekend, just days before a much-anticipated national election there, where the far-right movement is gaining steam.