Skip to content
The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper

The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper

Title

Name

Primary Menu
  • Home
  • Mindanao
  • Visayas
  • National
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • International
  • SciTech
  • Health & Wellness
  • Sports
  • About Us
    • Regional Advertising Rates
    • Contact Us
    • Profile
  • Home
  • International
  • Mevlut Cavusoglu continues verbal assault on Holland – Al Jazeera
  • Featured
  • International

Mevlut Cavusoglu continues verbal assault on Holland – Al Jazeera

Editor March 13, 2017

Turkey’s leaders continued their verbal assault on the Netherlands on Sunday with its foreign minister accusing his NATO ally of being “the capital of fascism”.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu made the comments in France where he spoke to whip up support among Turkish immigrants for constitutional reforms to expand the powers of the Turkish presidency.

On Saturday, Cavusoglu was denied landing rights by the Netherlands, where he planned to hold a rally in Rotterdam. Holding political rallies for another country’s domestic policies is illegal in Holland.

“The Netherlands – the so-called ‘capital of democracy’ – and I say this in quotation marks because they are actually the capital of fascism,” Cavusoglu said on Sunday in the northeastern French city of Metz.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday at a rally in Istanbul that it was appropriate to accuse the Dutch government of “Nazism and fascism” because “only those types of regimes would bar foreign ministers from travelling within their countries”.

Erdogan also said during a live televised address that the Netherlands would “pay the price”.

The crisis with the Netherlands is the most serious yet as tensions spiral between Turkey and its EU allies over the desire of top Turkish officials to hold rallies abroad ahead of the April 16 referendum on a new constitution that would give Erdogan greater powers.

The Netherlands is home to some 400,000 people of Turkish origin, and Ankara is keen to harness their votes.

Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya was expelled from the Netherlands after being prevented from addressing a rally in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam on Saturday.

The latest row came after NATO allies Turkey and Germany sparred over the cancellation of a series of referendum campaign events there.

“The West has clearly shown its true face in the last couple of days,” Erdogan said. “What we have seen in the last days is a clear manifestation of Islamophobia.”

After the unprecedented diplomatic fight, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Sunday he would seek to control the damage caused by the weekend incidents. He denounced the comments about fascism.

“This country, as the mayor of Rotterdam pointed out yesterday, was bombed during the Second World War by the Nazis. It’s totally unacceptable to talk in this way,” Rutte said in The Hague.

The diplomatic fight comes at a tough time in the Netherlands, which has national elections on Wednesday, and where issues of Dutch identity and relations with migrant communities and Islam have taken centre stage.

In a neck-and-neck race, the parties of either Rutte or populist firebrand Geert Wilders could end up with the most votes.

Rutte said it was important for his government not to bow to Turkish pressure, especially, he said, after Ankara threatened sanctions if the Dutch kept its ministers out.

“Turkey is a proud nation; the Netherlands is a proud nation. We can never do business under those sorts of threats and blackmail,” said Rutte.

Still, added the prime minister, his government “will keep working to de-escalate where we can. If the Turks choose to escalate, we will have to react, but we will do everything we can to de-escalate”.

The Dutch foreign ministry said on Sunday that Turkish authorities are responsible for the safety of Dutch diplomats in Turkey.

Meanwhile, Denmark’s Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen proposed on Sunday postponing a planned visit by Turkey’s Prime Minister Binali Yilderim this month because of the diplomatic row between Turkey and the Netherlands.(Al Jazeera)

Link: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/03/mevlut-cavusoglu-continues-verbal-assault-holland-170312141645541.html

fb-share-icon
Tweet 20

Continue Reading

Previous: NPA rebels torch bus in Mindanao despite resumption of stalled peace talks
Next: IS fighters left in Mosul will die, says US envoy McGurk – BBC News

Related News

Hacker by Tima
  • International

South Korea’s largest telecom operator suffers mass exodus of customers over data leak

Editor June 2, 2025
Bountiful-harvest
  • Featured
  • Mindanao Post

Aquaponics to conservation: How a young farmer is growing change

Editor May 28, 2025
BLT-1
  • Business
  • Featured

Joy of Sharing: Jollibee Group Foundation Marks 20 Years of Impactful Partnerships and Progress

Editor May 22, 2025

Trending News

JBL Unleashes Next-Level Audio in Davao JBL 1
  • Business
  • Technology

JBL Unleashes Next-Level Audio in Davao

June 6, 2025
PH mangoes land in Rome in bid to win over Italian market Mango1 2
  • Business
  • National

PH mangoes land in Rome in bid to win over Italian market

June 3, 2025
DOTr orders closure, raps vs. AirAsia Move over excessive air fares AirAsia-MOVE-app 3
  • National

DOTr orders closure, raps vs. AirAsia Move over excessive air fares

June 2, 2025
DOT assures Korean community of strengthened tourist safety measures Seo-In-Guk-&-Christina-Frasco 4
  • National
  • Tourism

DOT assures Korean community of strengthened tourist safety measures

June 2, 2025
SSS welcomes UnionDigital Bank President and CEO – talks about partnership opportunities for micro lending, for overseas Filipinos, and for transfer of technology uniondigital-bank 5
  • National

SSS welcomes UnionDigital Bank President and CEO – talks about partnership opportunities for micro lending, for overseas Filipinos, and for transfer of technology

June 2, 2025
  • Facebook
  • X
  • YouTube
  • Blog
Copyright © 2025. The Mindanao Examiner Regional Newspaper. All Rights Reserved. | MoreNews by AF themes.