Mike Corder, Cinar Kiper And Raf Casert, The Associated Press 

 



ROTTERDAM, Netherlands -- Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan drove his dispute with European nations to the hilt Sunday, boldly claiming that "Nazism is alive in the West" after two of his ministers were prevented from campaigning in the Netherlands over the weekend. The Dutch government said it withdrew landing permission because of “risks to public order and security,” leading Cavusoglu to say: “So is the foreign minister of the Turkish republic a terrorist?”

Erdogan told a rally in Istanbul that the Dutch “do not know politics or international diplomacy.” He compared them to “Nazi remnants, they are fascists.”

Erdogan had earlier this month already compared German policies to “Nazi practices,” after German municipalities canceled several campaign events by Turkish officials last weekend. After being denied landing rights in the Netherlands on Saturday, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu addressed crowds in the French city of Metz, where the French government had no qualms about permitting government representatives to Turkish rallies. “These are Dutch citizens who possibly also have voting rights in Turkey.”

The diplomatic fight comes at a tough time in the Netherlands, which has national election on Wednesday, and where issues of Dutch identity and relations with migrant communities and Islam have taken centre stage. ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says he was forced to keep two Turkish ministers from traveling within the Netherlands and to bar them from campaigning among Turkish voters because Ankara had threatened sanctions against his government. If the Turks choose to escalate, we will have to react, but we will do everything we can to de-escalate.”

After a tense standoff outside the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam on Saturday night, Turkey’s family and social policies minister, Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, was escorted back to the German border. Dutch police used dogs and water cannons on Sunday to disperse hundreds of protesters waving Turkish flags outside the consulate in Rotterdam.
Turkey bans the Dutch ambassador, Cornelis Van Rij, from returning to the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ankara, and closes its airspace to Dutch diplomats in response to a Dutch ban on Turkish ministers speaking at pro-Erdoğan rallies.