Ananya DuttaThe Turkish referendum for increasing the President’s power is causing immense problems between Turkey and its neighbors. They earlier had problems with Germany because they have cancelled a couple of rallies by Turkish minister because of security issues. Now diplomatic issues between Turkey and Netherlands are souring because Dutch authorities prevented Turkish ministers from addressing rallies in Netherlands.
Turkish president earlier accussed Germany of showing Nazi tendencies and now he is accusing Netherlands of the same. Turkey has decided to sever high level diplomatic relations with Netherlands for the time being. They have decided to banish the Dutch ambassador to Turkey. Diplomatic flights will also be suspended. There are no economic sanctions as yet.
“We are doing exactly what they did to us. We are not allowing planes carrying Dutch diplomats or envoys from landing in Turkey or using our airspace,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told a news conference after a cabinet meeting. “Those creating this crisis are responsible for fixing it.”
Earlier Erdogan threatened to take the Dutch to the European Court of Human Rights. The situation doesn’t bode well for Turkey especially in the light of security threats from terrorists and the ongoing war in the neighboring Syria.
Zainab Asif
Damodar Kalyan
