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A diplomatic spat between Turkey and the Netherlands is evolving.
Source of the controversy: Turkey's upcoming referendum on a constitutional change which would give more powers to the president. President Recep Erdoğan has been clamping down on opposition ever since the attempted coup, and securing his reign. Changing the constitution is another step in this process, which is seen by some as a large step towards eradicating democracy.
The Netherlands comes into play as the Turkish ruling party (AK) wishes to campaign for a "yes" vote in other countries, such as Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands. None of those countries is happy with an uninvited campaign visit by foreign politicians. The Turkish minister of foreign affairs was supposed to come to the Netherlands to campaign. The Dutch government strongly counselled against his visit, stating, amongst other reasons, that they do not want the Netherlands to host a rallying call for eradication of democracy. However, the rally could not be forbidden just because the contents was yuck to those in power - free speech and all that.
After this started hitting the news, the owners of the rooms that were booked for these rallies cancelled these bookings. Meanwhile, talks were ongoing between the two countries to resolve the situation. The Dutch government claims that the Turks started threatening with sanctions, and (my rephrasing) refused to be held hostage to how to govern their own country. In the midst of this evolving diplomatic spat, the Turkish minister of foreign affairs got onto a plane to the Netherlands.
As a side note: the Netherlands is having elections in 4 days (15th of March).
It gets better. The short short version:
- Saturday morning, the Dutch government cancelled the landing rights of the plane carrying the Turkish minister of foreign affairs.
- In response, Turkish president Erdogan called the Dutch nazis and fascists
- Turkish and Dutch communities were getting riled up.
This has created an atmosphere where any mayor can forbid a Turkish rally on the legitimate grounds that safety and security cannot be guaranteed. Yeah, that's not helping.
With the elections close, of course there's political posturing. Virtually all politicians think that this is a backwards step for Turkey, and that Turkish politicians should not be campaigning here.
But wait: it gets *even* better!
- Saturday evening, The Turkish minister of education snuck into the Netherlands by car.
- Her motorcade was stopped before arriving at the consulate, as the area around the Turkish consulate was now a no-go area thanks to the rising tensions
- There are calls on social media for Turks to travel to the consulate to protest.
- Turkey just announced that the Dutch ambassador to Turkey (who is not on his post currently) is not welcome back.
The ambassador not being welcome is literally breaking as I write this - I'm sure there will be more developments before this can be posted. See the live updates here.
My €0.02: Freedom of speech is important, even if you end up defending scoundrels (H.L. Mencken). However:
- every municipality has the right to forbid activities on its ground where it feels safety cannot be guaranteed.
- The Netherlands has elections in 4 days. Before today, the actions by the AK party were already decried as a gift to the anti-foreigners party. With current events evolving like this? I would expect quite a significant increase in seats for this party.
Update:
Turkey has just closed Dutch consulate and ambassy, and told the Dutch ambassador (out of country currently) he's not welcome back for now. The closing off is ostensibly for security purposes...
There is a massing of Turks near the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam. Police and various news media are there. Turkish media are getting good shots, others are broadcasting via periscope.
My updated two cents: foreign policy will become the hot topic for the Dutch elections; this is playing straight into the hands of the "Dutch Trump" Geert Wilders.
(and: why does the turkish government feel a need to force the issue now instead of after the Dutch elections? Are they so keen on playing the electoral role of the FBI?)
Read more at CNN and The Guardian.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by FakeBeldin on Monday March 13 2017, @07:43AM (1 child)
Why you all (most) think that the whole thing has been cooked up by Erdogan is beyond me.
Let's see, why do I think that?
- Turkish government (led by Erdogan) said they wanted to have ministers go to NL to campaign for a yes vote in a referendum that will give more power to Erdogan
- They were asked not to do this
- They said they were going to anyway
- When the plane carrying one of their ministers was forbidden from landing, another of their ministers suddenly arranged 4 motorcades to travel by car
- The consulate denies anyone is on the way
- The consulate initiates a social media campaign to get supporters to come to the consulate when the minister's motorcade arrives
Hmms, weird. I thought if I'd lay out the facts I'd see some controlling, guiding force behind it, but now that those facts are there, it all seems pure coincidence. </sarcasm>
What's more, he has absolutely nothing to gain from creating a belligerent Turkish Diaspora in Europe especially when far-right's steps (in various EU countries) to power is getting louder by the day.
You're right, a Turkish congregation where lots of Turkish flags are waved and people are shouting his name will definitely lead to the creation of a "belligerent Turkish Diaspora". There's only one minor point: no it won't.
In other words, this is a win-win situation for a lot of parties.
That's what others have been pointing out above already.
Simple: Erdogan has a stake in doing whatever he can to prevent far-right gaining more power in Europe.
No he doesn't. The more far-right gets into power, the more Turkey needs a strong man to protect it from the evils of Europe. If Europe is a threat to Turkey, people will align with their protector. If Europe is Turkey's best friend and will help keep Turkey safe from all the evils in the world, the benefits of a strong leader become negligible?
This is not a forum frequented by political analysts, and it shows.
Yeah, it'd be nice if one would show up, but it seems we're out of luck in that regard.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @10:11PM
Same AC here.
Actually, this is a nightmare scenario that would be much bigger than what Erdogan could handle.
To stand up against one or the other EU leader (and have a raw with them) is one thing, to have to actually protect Turkish citizens living outside TR is an entirely another.
Not everyone has completely forgotten (or choses to forget) the plight of the Jews of Europe of only a couple of generations ago.
After all, we're talking about a mere 5 million people --whih is 1 million short of the number of Jews claimed to have perished at the time.
The threat is not that another Holocaust will actually happen, but if the perception of threat is real enough, there'll be an exodus of upto 5 million people returning to Turkey overnight.
While this might be a wet dream for European far-right, it definitely is a nightmare scenario given that TR has 3.5 million Syrian refugees.
In short, this sort of thing is a nuclear/zero option. A politial suicide.
You're looking at this from the wrong angle, IMO. if Europe turns out to be a threat to Turkey, the protector TR people will seek will defintely not be Erdogan; it will be some general --some sort of modern day Ataturk, I mean.
Again, no. Erdogan's ticket to power has not been on nationalistic issues (though, like all politicians, he might jockey on that too); his base is the up-and-coming lower (economic) classes. Anything that helps increase the level of prosperity for these crowds helps Erdogan. Everything else is a minus for him.
Permanent or hard alienation with Europe is not a plus, and he knows it.