Dutch police has detained Turkish Minister of Family and Social Policy Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya to deport her to Germany after declaring her “undesirable alien.” Minister Kaya decided to go to Rotterdam by car despite the fact that the Netherlands on Saturday canceled the flight clearance for Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s aircraft to land in Holland.
In reaction to the Dutch decision not to allow her to enter the Turkish Consulate in Rotterdam, Minister Kaya said: “We want European countries, especially the Netherlands, to quickly return to the democratic values which they say they are for.”
police has also blocked Dutch missions in Turkey citing security reasons. Turkish police closed the gates of the Dutch Consulate General in İstanbul and the embassy in Ankara, not allowing anyone to enter or exit the buildings. The move came after Dutch police blocked the street on which the Turkish Consulate in Rotterdam is situated and refused to allow Minister Kaya into the building.
After the Netherlands’s decision to cancel the flight clearance for Turkish FM Çavuşoğlu’s aircraft to land in Holland, Ankara asked that Dutch Ambassador Cornelis Van Rij not return to Turkey for a while, the state-run TRTHaber reported on Saturday. Earlier on Saturday, the Netherlands’ chargé d’affaires in Ankara was summoned to Turkish Foreign Ministry.
“[In response to the Netherlands’ decision to prevent Turkish ministers from entering the country] we have informed them that we do not want to see the Dutch ambassador, who is still on vacation abroad, return to his job in Turkey for a while,” said a Turkish Foreign Ministry statement released on Saturday.
Earlier, FM Çavuşoğlu slammed Dutch authorities, saying tulips came to Holland from the Ottomans but failed to make them real men. “The decision taken by the Netherlands is a scandal in all aspects and is not acceptable,” said Çavuşoğlu at İstanbul Atatürk Airport on Saturday.
Recalling that he had campaigned before previous elections in Rotterdam, Çavuşoğlu said: “What has changed now that you won’t allow it? Why are you taking a side in this referendum? Why have the referendum and new system disturbed you so much that you are trying to prevent it?”
Likening the statements made by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to those made by Far-right Freedom Party head Geert Wilders, Çavuşoğlu said Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders rejected his proposal to hold campaign rallies after upcoming elections in the Netherlands.
Çavuşoğlu expressed uneasiness with the statement by Rutte: “He said, ‘We do not want to see the Turkish foreign minister here before or after the elections.’ Even more cheaply he said, ‘The Turkish foreign minister can come to see our museums and our tulips’.”
Calling Rutte’s statement shameful, Çavuşoğlu added: “Tulips were sent to Holland from Turkey during the time of the Ottomans. It seems that the tulips have not made the prime minister and racist politicians in the Netherland real men. If tulips would be useful, we can send them new ones so that they can be real men, a little.”
Underlining that the decision of the Dutch government made Wilders happy, the foreign minister continued: “OK, what is the difference between the prime minister who took this decision and Wilders? There is no difference. The same mentality, the same mindset, the same fascism.”
“We will give them the response they deserve,” added Çavuşoğlu.
Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has also threatened to refuse Dutch aircraft the right to land in Turkey. “Don’t allow our foreign minister’s plane to go there as much as you want — let’s see how your planes will come to Turkey from now on. I am talking about diplomacy here, I am not talking about citizens’ travel. That is another issue, and we will assess that later on,” Erdoğan said during a speech in İstanbul’s Bağcılar district.
On the other hand, Amnesty International fired the first shots at Turkish FM Çavuşoğlu on Friday after he announced that a visit to the Netherlands for a public rally to promote votes in favor of an April 16 referendum was still planned, even though Dutch authorities had announced that such rallies were “undesirable.”