Dutch police besiege Turkish consulate in Rotterdam

The development follows the Netherlands government’s decision to bar Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu from visiting the Netherlands.

Dutch police besieged the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam and blocked Turkey’s family affairs minister from entering the building in an escalation of a diplomatic row between the Netherlands and Turkey.

The development follows the Netherlands government’s decision to bar Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu from visiting the Netherlands, where he was due to address the Turkish community in a rally in Rotterdam. In an interview with TRT World, Cavusoglu confirmed that the Dutch police had besieged the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam.

The Netherlands is home to some 400,000 people of Turkish origin, and Ankara is keen to harness votes of the diaspora in Europe ahead of the April 16 referendum on creating an executive presidency. Efforts to organise similar rallies in Germany were also blocked. Germany is home to 1.4 million people eligible to vote in Turkey.

Minister stopped from entering consulate

Turkish Family Affairs Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya’s vehicle was intercepted by Dutch police after she entered the country from Germany late on Saturday. The Dutch government said it wanted the minister to leave the Netherlands.

The mayor of Rotterdam said Kaya was being escorted back to the border with Germany.

Kaya had travelled by road to the Netherlands from neighbouring Germany after the Dutch government revoked landing rights for a plane carrying Turkey’s foreign minister.

Turkey’s response

Cavusoglu, who was barred from a similar meeting in Hamburg last week but spoke instead from the Turkish consulate, accused the Dutch of treating the many Turkish citizens in the country like hostages, cutting them off from Ankara.

In response to Saturday’s events, Turkey’s foreign ministry said that it did not want the Dutch ambassador, who is out of the country, to return to his post.

Turkish authorities sealed off the Dutch embassy and consulate for “security reasons”, the foreign ministry said.

Protesters gathered outside the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam in large numbers.
Source: Reuters

Protests in Rotterdam grow

Several hundred demonstrators waving Turkish flags gathered outside the Turkish consulate in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, demanding to see the Turkish minister for family affairs. There were similar protests outside the Dutch embassy and consulate in Ankara and Istanbul.

In Rotterdam there was a large police presence, and after several hours of calm the protesters were being dispersed using water canons. Television footage showed the police also carrying out mounted charges on horseback to break the protest.

“The people are very angry tonight. They feel that their freedom of expression has been denied. We are demonstrating because we want to hear our ministers speak,” Said Marti, 50, from Rotterdam, said..