Mark Rutte
Dutch Prime Minister mark Rutte has refused to apologize to Ankara for refusing to let in the Netherlands two Turkish Ministers. He stated Sunday, March 12, in the channel WNL.
“I’m going to help de-escalate tensions, but not to apologize,” said Rutte. He reminded that President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the Netherlands a relic of Nazism and fascism.
The Minister of foreign Affairs of the Netherlands Bert Koenders supported this position. “Completely impossible, what are we going to apologize”, — quotes the portal Nu.nl.
Earlier on March 12, Erdogan, commenting on the incident, said that the Netherlands is acting like a “banana Republic”. He called on “all international organizations in Europe and other countries” to introduce sanctions against the country. The Prime Minister of Turkey, Binali Yildirim has promised that Ankara will react harshly to the actions of the Dutch authorities.
A diplomatic scandal between Ankara and Amsterdam broke after 11 March, the Dutch authorities refused to let into the country two Turkish Ministers. First, they initially withdrew permission for the landing of the aircraft, the foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu in Rotterdam, and then stopped near the Turkish Consulate in the same city, a convoy of cars with the Minister for family and social policy Fatma Betul saillant Kaya.
The official was arrested, declared an “undesirable alien” and was escorted back to the border with Germany. As a result, the Embassy had organized a rally in support of Kaya, the police dispersed the demonstrators.
The Minister accused the Dutch authorities in violation of international law and called them “fascists”. Mark Rutte, in turn, considered the statement of the Turkish leader that the Netherlands is a relic of Nazism “crazy,” noting that it “crosses all boundaries”.
Turkish officials had planned to hold in some European countries where Turkish citizens, a series of rallies to garner their support ahead of the referendum on the new Constitution. The authorities of Germany, Austria and the Netherlands forbidden to do such actions.