Turkey will not allow the Dutch ambassador to Ankara to return to Turkey and has suspended high-level diplomatic relations between the two countries, deputy Turkish Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus announced in Ankara on Monday as a disagreement between the two countries escalated, according to CNN.
Turkey`s action came after the Netherlands` refusal to allow Turkey`s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to visit for a political rally in Rotterdam over the weekend, is demanding answers from the Dutch government over why they blocked him.
That was followed by a refusal by the Dutch to let the Turkish family affairs minister, Fatma Betul Sayan Kayafrom, enter the Turkish consulate in the city.
She was escorted out of the country.
Violent clashes in Rotterdam followed the decision to halt the two ministers from addressing the rallies.
Cavusoglu suggested that a rise in racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia in the Netherlands and other European countries is to blame.
He also said the Netherlands and other European countries wish to ”obstruct” the yes campaign for a referendum on the Turkish constitution to be held on April 16. The move would grant new powers to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Cavusoglu was visiting Rotterdam to rally support among Turkish expatriates in the Netherlands, who can vote in the referendum.
After the foreign minister`s visit to Rotterdam was blocked, Erdogan reacted angrily, comparing the Dutch government to Nazis.
Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders believes it is now ”quite impossible” for members of the Turkish government to campaign in the Netherlands for the upcoming referendum, he told CNN`s Hala Gorani in an interview Monday.
”We have now a situation which I think is unworkable,” Koenders said.
