ANKARA — Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Monday summoned the Netherlands’ top diplomat to formally protest its treatment of a Turkish minister in that country over the weekend as well as what it said was “disproportionate” use of force against demonstrators in a protest that ensued.
The Ministry said the Dutch Embassy’s charge d’affaires, Daan Feddo Huisinga, was called to the ministry where a senior official handed him two formal protest notes.
The first protested what it said practices that were contrary to international conventions, diplomatic courtesy, and diplomatic immunities and requested a written apology from the Dutch authorities, a ministry statement said. Turkey also reserved its right to seek compensation, the Dutch diplomat was told.
The second note protested the treatment of Turkish citizens who had gathered outside the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam, saying “disproportionate force” had been used against “people using their right to peaceful gatherings. It added that Turkish nationals had been subjected to “inhumane and derogatory” treatment and called for those responsible to be identified and punished.
It was the third time that the Dutch diplomat has been summoned since tensions broke out between the two countries after two ministers were prevented from campaigning in the Netherlands. The family affairs minister was escorted out of the country while the foreign minister was denied permission to land.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday vowed to retaliate against the Netherlands after claiming that “Nazism is alive in the West.”
Erdogan, who is seeking support from Turks in a referendum on boosting his powers, has said the Netherlands is acting like a “banana republic” and should face sanctions for barring his ministers from speaking in Rotterdam.
Dutch police used dogs and water cannon on Sunday to disperse hundreds of protesters waving Turkish flags outside the consulate in Rotterdam. Some protesters threw bottles and stones and several demonstrators were beaten by police with batons, a Reuters witness said. Mounted police officers charged the crowd.
“The Turkish community and our citizens were subject to bad treatment, with inhumane and humiliating methods used in disproportionate intervention against people exercising their right to peaceful assembly,” a statement attributed to ministry sources said.
Turkey’s foreign ministry also said it sought an official written apology for the treatment of its family minister and diplomats there, the sources said.
