“Total tyranny” and “Erdogan has crossed all boundaries.” Why did Türkiye and the Netherlands quarrel? Turkish-Dutch conflict
This beauty began a few days ago, when Ankara announced the intention of a number of high-ranking Turkish officials to make speeches to their European diasporas in support of the constitutional reform announced in Turkey.
More precisely, in support of a constitutional referendum that will transform this already not very calm country into a tough presidential republic, with all levers of power concentrated in playful hands Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Europe - for starters, represented by the Netherlands - reacted to this statement by Ankara in a unique way.
Ambassadors' War
First, on March 9, the Dutch authorities announced that they would not support the visit of the Turkish Foreign Minister to the country Mevluta Cavusoglu, scheduled for March 11. Which, by the way, is offensive in itself. Especially considering the medical fact that the Netherlands and Turkey are, in general, military allies in the NATO bloc.
Then the Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Kounders quite openly and officially declares that he “refuses to meet with his Turkish colleague.” And, which is completely out of the question, he is not going to provide him with “any support usually expected for a ministerial visit.”
At this point, the Turks, as they say, have their teeth in their hands.
In particular, Çavuşoğlu immediately announced his intention, no matter what, to visit Rotterdam, where the largest Turkish diaspora in the Netherlands is located, and threatened political and economic sanctions if the authorities of this Western European country tried to prevent his trip.
The Dutch government, in turn, declared that further search for an acceptable solution was impossible, and insultingly refused permission for the ministerial plane to land.
Well, this whole diplomatic tent ended with no more, but no less, than the expulsion from the Netherlands of the Minister of Family Affairs and Social Policy of Turkey Fatma Betul Sayyan Kayi.
The day before, she arrived in the same long-suffering Rotterdam by car from Germany to hold a campaign rally in circumvention of the decision of the local authorities. And, accompanied by the Dutch police, she was instead deported to Germany, from where she returned to Turkey.
All sorts of cute little things, such as “wars of ambassadors and attorneys,” and other diplomatic games need not be mentioned at all here. Because, as one of my wild friends used to say during my stormy student youth: “To hell with the details: what city are we in?” Little things are all vanity.
There is something much worse here.
Nobody wanted to retreat
We notice that in connection with this ridiculous “Turkish-Dutch” confrontation, an uncontrollable seething of the masses began, so to speak.
And not only in Istanbul, where things have already come to the point of tearing down the national flag from the Dutch embassy. And not only in the form of an angry reaction from crowds of “representatives of the Turkish diaspora in European capitals.”
The opposite side has already begun to stir.
The worst thing here is that if “the idea takes hold of the masses,” then no way out of the situation will be visible at all. Because the accumulated contradictions in this case are absolutely objective and natural, and the parties simply have nowhere to retreat.
Attempts to localize all this to the level of an “excuse” are already doomed to failure: can the Dutch authorities allow senior government officials of another country to hold political events of many thousands on the streets of their cities?
No, they can't.
For example, for such a banal, everyday reason as the upcoming elections. In preparation for which, the leader of the far-right Dutch Freedom Party Geert Wilders, in particular, has actually already called for the recall of the ambassador from Ankara and the expulsion of the Turkish ambassador from The Hague. And at the same time he advised all Turks who agree with their president’s statements about the Netherlands to “go to Turkey and not return.”
If we take into account the fact that the Freedom Party is already “balancing on the brink of victory,” then the backward move of the current Dutch authorities could stupidly lead to the fact that Wilders will simply be taken and introduced into the local parliament in their own hands.
Together with the exit of the Netherlands from the European Union and other consequences.
Is this a dead end? Yes, it's a dead end
On the other hand, the Turks also have no right to ignore at least half a million of their voting compatriots living in the Netherlands. And they also cannot forgive the insulting declaration of the minister as an “undesirable foreigner” from the lips of Dutch officials - at least not today.
Basically, this is a dead end. And the crisis is only gaining momentum.
Thus, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands has already refused to apologize to Turkey. In response, Erdogan immediately insulted the Netherlands. There is no end in sight to this story.
And so, just the day before, Germany joined Holland. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble stated that, given the current situation, it is impossible to develop economic cooperation with Turkey.
But the head of the German Ministry of Internal Affairs spoke even harsher Thomas de Maizières, believing that the Turkish political struggle has nothing to do in Germany. And “whoever reviles the Federal Republic or its constitutional order and maliciously expresses his contempt for them in any way commits a criminal offence.”
Here, apparently, not only the Turkish president de Maizière had in mind, but also all the Turkish diasporas in Germany will simply be forced to respond.
And there are much more Turks in Germany than in the Netherlands. Until now, they have been very law-abiding and hard-working “dual citizens.” But everything ends someday.
What will now happen in the recently calm Europe, which is also putting a “Turkish turban” on its head in addition to the “Arab-migrant hijab,” alas, one can only guess. One thing is constant in this whole story - Europe, as always, will assign Russia the blame for everything.
The diplomatic row between Turkey and the Netherlands has reached a new level. The Dutch authorities expelled the Turkish minister from the country. Ankara promised an extremely tough response. Experts note: Turkey’s actions only strengthen the position of Eurosceptics in the Netherlands, and Erdogan himself earns political points on the eve of the constitutional referendum in Turkey.
The diplomatic row between Turkey and the Netherlands escalated over the weekend.
“At the same time, one should not underestimate the Dutch, they are, of course, known for cheese, herring and the legalization of soft drugs, but, in principle, they can cope with any diaspora”
Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte reproached the Turkish authorities for blackmail, explaining the refusal of Turkish ministers to enter Holland with Ankara's threats to impose sanctions. “There is no way we can conduct business under conditions of this kind of blackmail,” the minister was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
However, the refusal of the Dutch authorities did not prevent the Minister of Family Affairs and Social Policy of Turkey, Fatma Betul Sayan Kaye, from arriving in Rotterdam from neighboring Germany on Saturday evening. Kaya intended to speak to residents of the Netherlands with dual Turkish-Dutch citizenship to encourage their support in the referendum on amendments to the Turkish constitution. Local police escorted the minister and expelled him from the country back to Germany, declaring Kaya.
The detention of the Turkish minister and the cancellation of her speech provoked the Turkish community in Rotterdam into riots and clashes with the police, who had to normalize the situation.
“As a minister holding a diplomatic passport, I planned to meet with Turkish citizens in the Netherlands on the territory of the Consulate General, which is considered Turkish territory. According to international law, no permission is required for such meetings,” she added.Earlier, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke in the same harsh manner about what happened, calling the actions of the Dutch authorities “remnants of Nazism.”
Brussels stopped paying for Turkey's European integration
It is significant that, against the backdrop of a diplomatic scandal, the European Union itself decided to reduce funding for projects aimed at Turkey’s European integration. European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn spoke about this today. He said that programs “where there was no corresponding progress” were suspended. As an example, he cited measures to “build the rule of law,” TASS reports with reference to the DPA.
According to the European Commissioner, in 2014–2020 it was planned to allocate 4.45 billion euros to Turkey, but only 167.3 million euros were paid; the support mainly concerned the development of civil society, the education system and science.
According to Khan, the EU “made it clear” to Ankara that “the negative development of events, which began with the coup attempt, is incompatible with the standards” of the European Union. Khan also appreciated Erdogan’s statement comparing the Dutch authorities with the Nazis, saying that he considers such comparisons “unacceptable and absurd.”
At the same time, yesterday Ankara itself threatened the EU if the European Union refuses to liberalize the visa regime for Turkish citizens.
Türkiye contributes to the collapse of the European Union
Political scientist, president of the Institute of the Middle East Evgeny Satanovsky, talking with the newspaper VZGLYAD about the diplomatic scandal that broke out between Turkey and the Netherlands, noted that it is premature to make any forecasts now. “Ankara itself has not been planning to “integrate into Europe” for a long time. And, in fact, The Hague and Brussels are still different cities,” he emphasized.
Another thing is that, according to Satanovsky, Holland is generally tired of immigrants from the Middle East, and now the Turkish diaspora has come under attack. “Turks living in the Netherlands were simply asked to pack their bags and get out. At the same time, one should not underestimate the Dutch; they, of course, are known for cheese, herring and the legalization of soft drugs, but, in principle, they can cope with any diaspora. After a number of high-profile crimes committed by migrants, the degree of irritation in the Netherlands has increased significantly,” the expert believes.
At the same time, the political scientist noted that Turkey is now strengthening the trends towards the collapse of the European Union and the revival of national states with any retaliatory measures. “Ankara, of course, can blackmail The Hague with new flows of refugees, but the Dutch themselves will not accept them, and they do not have direct borders with Turkey. These are absolutely not sentimental people, and it is unlikely that the Turks will be able to somehow put pressure on them,” Satanovsky believes.
Turkologist Alexander Sotnichenko, in turn, recalled that Turkey itself is currently actively preparing for a referendum on changes to the constitution. “There have already been many political scandals around this idea. For Erdogan’s supporters, it is now profitable to play on the conflict between Turkey and the EU,” the expert told the VZGLYAD newspaper.
According to Sotnichenko, Erdogan now has a new opportunity on the eve of the referendum to portray himself as a kind of fighter against the West and Europe. “That’s why this scandal was inflated, and the scandal itself is not worth a damn,” he believes.
Relations between the Netherlands and Turkey have never been ideal. Disagreements regularly arose between the two countries, but last Saturday has every chance of going down in history as a dark day in the history of bilateral cooperation.
Concerned about security or Erdogan?
It all started a few days ago, when the Turkish authorities announced their intention to make speeches to the Turkish diaspora in a number of European countries in support of constitutional reform. And while in Germany they reacted quite calmly to this initiative, the Dutch authorities immediately stated that holding political campaigns in the country is undesirable, since it poses a threat to public order and security.
In particular, the government emphasized that they feared clashes between supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his opponents. However, as experts note, the reluctance of the Dutch authorities to cooperate was also due to the fact that the reform advocated by the Turkish government strengthens the powers of Erdogan, who is already regularly criticized in the West for his authoritarian methods of rule.
Persistent Minister
The first alarm bells rang on March 9, when the Netherlands announced that it would not support the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to the country, scheduled for March 11. Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Kounders said he "refuses to meet with his Turkish counterpart" and does not intend to provide "any of the support usually expected in a ministerial visit."
In response, Çavuşoğlu announced his intention to visit Rotterdam no matter what and threatened political and economic sanctions if the Netherlands tried to prevent this trip. The Dutch government, in turn, stated that further search for an acceptable solution was impossible and refused to issue permission for the ministerial plane to land.
Politics of big phrases
The reaction of the Turkish authorities was not long in coming. Erdogan immediately made a speech in which he called the Netherlands “Nazi descendants, fascists” and said that Turkey would take mirror measures against Dutch diplomats.
The Netherlands reacted harshly to these statements. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Erdogan had “crossed all limits.” And the leader of the far-right Freedom Party, Geert Wilders, even called for the recall of the ambassador from Ankara and the expulsion of the Turkish ambassador in The Hague. In addition, he advised all Turks who agree with their president’s statements about the Netherlands to “go to Turkey and not return.”
Not for foreign affairs, but for family matters
At a certain point, it seemed that the conflict had nowhere else to develop, but Turkey had a plan “B” in reserve, or rather, the Minister of Family Affairs and Social Policy Fatma Betul Sayyan Kaya, who was in Germany at that moment. She also planned to visit the Netherlands, but not Rotterdam, but the city of Hengelo on the border with Germany. However, by that time the question had already acquired a fundamental character, and she decided to go straight to Rotterdam, and by car. The Netherlands once again tried to clarify its position. “Turkish ministers are not prohibited from being in the Netherlands,” Rutte said. “The issue is that we don’t want them to speak in front of the Turkish community.” Meanwhile, Dutch Turks supporting Erdogan began to gather in front of the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam. Closer to midnight, their number reached several thousand people.
Stalemate situation
Meanwhile, the minister found herself in a stalemate. She arrived in Rotterdam, but was stopped by the police near the consulate. At the same time, law enforcement officers blocked her path to the diplomatic mission and similarly did not allow her to approach the gathered crowd. This became the reason for the minister to strongly condemn the actions of the Dutch authorities. “The Netherlands is violating all international laws, conventions and human rights by not allowing me to enter the Turkish consulate,” the minister wrote on her Twitter page. - Democracy, fundamental rights and freedom of speech - everything is forgotten today in Rotterdam. Sheer tyranny and oppression!” Wilders could not resist reacting to these statements, who, for his part, called on Kaya to “get out, never return and take all your Turkish fanatics from the Netherlands with you.”
Back to Germany
However, this situation could not continue forever, and then the Dutch government decided to declare the Turkish minister an “undesirable foreigner” and send him back to Germany. Naturally, Kaya initially did not agree to this. But when the police began to evacuate the cars in which the Turkish delegation arrived, she was forced to get out of the car. At that moment, law enforcement officers escorted her into another car, and the entire motorcade headed towards Germany. As a sign of protest, demonstrators gathered at the consulate began to throw various objects at law enforcement officers; in response, they were forced to use force and detained several people. By mid-night, the center of Rotterdam had become relatively calm, but there remained a heavy presence of law enforcement officers on the city's streets.
Irresponsible act
To clarify the situation late at night, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte reiterated the Dutch position. “In contacts with the Turkish side, we have repeatedly emphasized that public order and security in the country should not be threatened,” he noted. - Negotiations for a small event at a Turkish consulate or embassy were stopped due to threats of sanctions. Then the Netherlands this morning refused to grant permission for Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu's plane to land. The subsequent statements by the Turkish authorities are unacceptable and finding a reasonable solution has proven impossible.”
“In this context, the visit of the Minister of Family Affairs and Social Policy of Turkey, Fatma Betül Sayyan Kaya, is irresponsible,” the minister emphasized. - In contacts with the Turkish side, we reiterated that we do not welcome its arrival, and that the Netherlands will not interact with Turkish ministers as part of the political campaign (for amending the Turkish constitution - TASS note). However, she decided to come anyway.”
“Upon arrival in Rotterdam, the minister was repeatedly asked to leave the country,” Rutte noted, adding that both he and Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Kounders held talks on this issue with their Turkish counterparts. As a result of the consultations, “Kaya was directed to the border with Germany,” where she came from.
It is still difficult to say how events will develop in the future, but the worsening of the situation will not be a big surprise. The Turkish Foreign Ministry has already conveyed to the Dutch chargé d'affaires in Ankara that the country does not want the kingdom's ambassador to return from vacation to Ankara to perform his duties. This means that Wilders’ call may well come true. In addition, Cavusoglu has already stated that the actions of the Netherlands will not go unanswered.
Corr. TASS Vitaly Chugin, illustration by Yashar Niyazbaev
Sunday, March 12, 2017The conflict between Turkey and the Netherlands continues to escalate. It arose due to the fact that Turkish high-ranking officials were not allowed to communicate with Turkish demonstrators who were supporting President Erdogan.
It is worth recalling that a referendum on expanding presidential powers will be organized in Turkey in the near future. There are Turkish diasporas in many countries, including Holland. The diaspora there is approximately 400 thousand people.
Turks living in Holland came out to rally in support of President Erdogan. Turkish officials wanted to talk to them in order to further explain to them the specifics of the changes to the Turkish constitution that are planned to be made following the results of a national referendum.
The Turkish rally came as a surprise to the Dutch authorities, and, apparently, an unpleasant surprise. According to some media reports, “in Europe they believe that amendments to the Basic Law of Turkey will lead to strengthening authoritarianism under the leadership of President Erdogan. Today, broad powers of power in the country are concentrated in the hands of the prime minister. The reform will transfer them to the president, legislating his so far informal leadership.”
Moreover, parliamentary elections will soon be held in Holland itself, where the Freedom Party of Geert Wilders, a conservative, Eurosceptic and nationalist, can confidently win.
Apparently, for this reason too, the Dutch authorities banned a meeting between Turkish officials and Turkish protesters. Thus, the plane carrying the head of the Turkish Foreign Ministry did not receive permission to land on Dutch territory. The police did not allow the motorcade with the Minister of Family Affairs and Social Policy of Turkey, Fatma Betul Sayyan Kaye, to enter the territory of the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam.
Protests in support of Erdogan in Holland instantly turned into protests against the decision of the Dutch authorities. These rallies were dispersed by water cannons and other special means; stones and other improvised projectiles were thrown at the police from the crowd of protesters. By the way, similar bans on meetings with Turkish officials were initiated by the authorities of Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Following the Dutch-Turkish riots, the notorious Geert Wilders said on Twitter, “Now the Netherlands sees that the Turks are not Dutch. They have our passports, but they don’t belong to us.”
As a result of the ban on communication with Turks by officials of official Ankara, the Prime Minister of Turkey made a number of resonant statements by Binali Yildirim, who in particular noted that “Ankara’s retaliatory measures will be extremely tough. Pressure on Turkey and the minister, who enjoys diplomatic immunity, is unacceptable.”
At the same time, he described the actions of the Netherlands as “fascist”, addressing the Turkish demonstrators with the following words: “Members of the Turkish diaspora should not succumb to provocations. The best response to this kind of fascist methods will be a referendum on April 16.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also noted that the actions of the Dutch authorities are a “relic of Nazism.” At the same time, the head of Turkey said: “prohibit our foreign ministers from flying as much as you want, but now let’s see how your flights land in Turkey.”
In response to this, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said: “This is a crazy statement, of course. I understand that they were angry, but this is beyond the bounds.” At the same time, the exclusion of Turkish diplomats from the protesters in Holland at the official level was explained by “security reasons.”
According to Turkish media reports, the Dutch Embassy in Ankara and the Dutch Consulate in Istanbul were also closed for “security reasons” in response. In general, the rise in political tension between Ankara and Rotterdam is growing exponentially.
Political scientist Abbas Juma described the current diplomatic scandal as follows: “The fact that this is truly a dark day in the history of relations between the Netherlands and Turkey is clear. But I would not rush to talk about any final Turkish-European break yet. Although it is quite possible that this will happen in the near future, there will be more compelling reasons. Not from the area of relations between Turkey and any individual country, but it will be somehow “packaged”, in general.” At the same time, the expert separately noted that “European-Turkish relations are bursting at the seams. And what is happening now between the Netherlands and Turkey is just a link in a large chain of contradictions.”
Leading researcher at the Center for Asian and African Studies at the Higher School of Economics, Alexey Obraztsov, commented on the situation as follows: “The Netherlands violated international agreements and norms of diplomatic relations. This is evidence that the European Union is in a deep crisis, including a diplomatic one. When the law begins to act selectively, when they begin to live not according to laws, but according to concepts. If police cordons prevent a citizen from going to the consulate of his country, in my opinion, this is a shame. Since the current leadership of Turkey are impulsive people, they reacted so sharply to this. We can only hope that the first fright will soon pass and everything will end with mutual apologies.”
In Holland, the situation with street activity has currently stabilized. However, in Ankara and Istanbul the police continue to keep the Dutch diplomatic missions cordoned off. Because Turkish citizens have gathered under the walls of the embassy and consulate and are throwing stones and eggs at their territory.
At the same time, official Ankara declared “undesirable the return to the country of the Ambassador of the Netherlands, who is currently on vacation.”
Now Turkish demonstrators have removed the Dutch flag from the Dutch consulate in Istanbul and hoisted a Turkish flag in its place, reports Hürriyet Daily News. Dutch social media users are already writing that “they are declaring war for this” and promising to fight “until the last Turk” - fortunately, so far only on the Internet.
