(Compilation of articles from The INDEPENDENT UK & Two Other Sources in March 2017.)
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| Turkish Islamic Holy-war in Europe has begun. |
Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, did not welcome the victory for Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s centre-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). “Now the election is over in the Netherlands...when you look at the many parties you see there is no difference between the social democrats and fascist Wilders,” he said according to a translation by Hurriyet.
“All have the same mentality. Where will you go? Where are you taking Europe? You have begun to collapse Europe. You are dragging Europe into the abyss. Holy wars will soon begin in Europe.”
Mr Wilders attempted to capitalise on an ongoing diplomatic row between the Netherlands and Turkey during his election campaign, leading a small protest outside the country's embassy and calling Mr Erdogan a “dictator”.
His anti-Islam Party for Freedom came second in the Dutch election with 20 seats, compared to 33 for Mr Rutte’s VVD, and is likely to be excluded from coalition talks. French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron hailed the result as a victory for “progressives”, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Mr Rutte to congratulate him overnight.
The dispute over political campaigning for a constitutional referendum in Turkey has intensified since a rally to be held by Mr Cavusoglu in Rotterdam was cancelled on Saturday. Dutch authorities withdrew permission for the foreign minister’s plane to land when he vowed to visit the country regardless, sparking a series of tit-for-tat sanctions.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and prominent ministers have called the Dutch government “fascists” and “Nazis”, while EU leaders have called the allegations offensive and “detached from reality”.
Turkish hackers spread the Nazi accusations across high profile Twitter accounts on Wednesday morning, posting pro-Erdogan messages and a link to the President speaking from accounts including Unicef USA, Amnesty International, BBC North America, Forbes and Justin Bieber’s Japanese account.
“A little bit of an Ottoman Slap to you, see you on 16 April,” read the identical tweets, using the hashtags #NaziGermany and #NaziHolland. The dispute has sparked protests in Turkey and across Europe, while Turkish-backed rebels in Syria put out a video accusing the Dutch government of being swayed by the ideology of Mr Wilders’ “xenophobic and racist” Party for Freedom (PVV).
A protester scaled the Dutch consulate in Istanbul and replaced the national flag with the Turkish banner during demonstrations on Sunday, while Turkish protesters have been photographed stabbing oranges and holding signs reading “fascist Holland”.
Ankara also halted high-level talks with Dutch government officials on Monday and closed its airspace to the country’s diplomats, while repeating threats to scrap a deal struck with the EU last year to slow the flow of refugees to Greece.
Nazi allegations were initially levelled at the German government by Mr Erdogan after several cities cancelled planned rallies. At least four German local authorities have withdrawn permission for pro-Erdogan campaign events, as well as areas of Austria and Switzerland. Allies of the Turkish President are targeting more than a million Turkish voters living in Europe who will be eligible to cast a ballot in the vote on 16 April.
The referendum could see Turkey’s parliamentary system replaced with an executive presidency using constitutional amendments that have alarmed human rights groups by granting sweeping powers to Mr Erdogan.
All rally cancellations have cited safety and administrative issues but were linked to concern over a crackdown seeing thousands of people detained in Turkey following an attempted coup in July.
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| Turkish rioters facing off Dutch police in Rotterdam. |
A diplomatic spat between NATO allies Turkey and the Netherlands over Turkish campaigning abroad for a referendum escalated on March 11 when Dutch authorities denied the Turkish foreign minister’s plane permission to land.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted angrily, threatening to respond in kind against diplomats from the Netherlands and describing the Dutch as “Nazi remnants” and “fascists.” It is the second time in a week that Erdogan has used the word “Nazi” in criticizing one of Turkey’s NATO allies, having accused Germany on March 5 of “Nazi practices” for withdrawing authorizations for Turkish campaign rallies.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told reporters on March 11 that Erdogan had made “a crazy remark” that was “way out of line.” Rutte said he understood that Turkish officials are angry, and that the Dutch government “will do everything to keep the relations with Turkey as good as possible, as strong as possible.”
“But, of course, today was not a good day in the Turkish-Dutch relations,” Rutte said. The Dutch government on March 11 barred the aircraft of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu from landing, saying it had withdrawn the permission because of “risks to public order and security” caused by Cavusoglu’s proposed visit to Rotterdam.
Cavusoglu wanted to hold a rally to promote a Turkish referendum to give enhanced powers to Erdogan, which is scheduled for next month. Rotterdam authorities had already barred him from addressing the Turkish rally there, with mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb saying that it would pose a threat to “public order.”
However, Aboutaleb had earlier said there was no question of him being excluded from the Netherlands. Cavusoglu responded that Turkey would respond with harsh economic and political sanctions if he were banned.
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| Dutch police let his dog on a Trukish-Muslim rioter in Rotterdam. |
“They are Nazi remnants, they are fascists,” Erdogan told an Istanbul rally. “Ban our foreign minister from flying however much you like, but from now on let’s see how your flights will land in Turkey.”
German Rebuke: Officials in several
major European cities have banned rallies by senior Turkish politicians to
promote a constitutional referendum among members of Turkey’s European diaspora.
Four planned Turkish political rallies in Austria and one in Switzerland were also canceled, amid growing signs of unease across Europe over Turkey’s drive to gain support for President Erdogan ahead of a referendum on April 16 to enhance his powers. Turkish politicians want to attract the votes of the Turkish community in Europe ahead of the April 16 referendum on whether to boost Erdogan’s powers.
Similar cancellations in Germany led Erdogan to accuse Berlin of “Nazi practices,” a jibe which drew a sharp rebuke from Germany’s leaders, including Chancellor Angela Merkel, who labeled the comparison as “unacceptable.”
Relations between Turkey and the European Union have deteriorated in recent months, with Erdogan angry at criticism from EU members for waging a mass crackdown on opponents since he saw off a coup attempt last July. Swiss police cited “significant security risks” for their decision to cancel a speech by a Turkish politician on March 10 in the evening.
Foreign Minister Cavusoglu is still looking for a new venue for an event on March 12 after one hotel near Zurich pulled out on security grounds and an alternative, in the city of Winterthur, was rejected as inappropriate.
The town of Hoerbranz, in Austria, cancelled a meeting with a former Turkish minister because it had falsely been labelled as a book presentation. Other events were scrapped in Linz, Herzogenburg, and Wiener Neustadt.
ANKARA (AFP) – (Turkish Dictator) President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday urged Turks residents in Europe to have five children, telling the millions strong (Turkish-Muslim) diaspora community “you are Europe’s future.”
Turkey and Europe are locked in a bitter spat after Germany and the Netherlands blocked Turkish ministers from holding rallies to campaign for a ‘yes’ vote in next month’s referendum on expanding Erdogan’s powers. Erdogan has repeatedly accused EU states of behaving like Nazi Germany over what he sees as discrimination against Turks, in comments that have caused outrage across the continent.
“From here I say to my citizens, I say to my brothers and sisters in Europe… Educate your children at better schools, make sure your family live in better areas, drive in the best cars, live in the best houses,” said Erdogan. “Have five children, not three. You are Europe’s future.”
“This is the best answer to the rudeness shown to you, the enmity, the wrongs,” he added in a televised speech in the city of Eskisehir, south of Istanbul. Some 2.5 million Turkish citizens resident in Europe are eligible to vote in elections in their homeland. But millions more people living in EU states have Turkish origins.
Erdogan, a father of four, has previously urged women in Turkey to have
at least three children to help boost the population and take over Christian
Europe, in comments denounced by women’s rights activists.
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| Less children a woman has, longer her life expectancy is. Is Dictator Erdogan too stupid to know that? |