Turkey sanctions the Netherlands over ministers' treatment
Turkey said on Monday it would suspend high-level diplomatic relations with the Netherlands after Dutch authorities prevented its ministers from speaking at rallies of expatriate Turks, Reuters reported.
The sanctions - which include a ban on the Dutch ambassador and diplomatic flights from the Netherlands but do not appear to include economic measures or travel restrictions for ordinary citizens - mark another low point in relations between Turkey and the European Union, which it still officially aims to join.
To remind, the row over Ankara's political campaigning among Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands and Germany has escalated in recent days, with Erdogan labelling the Netherlands a "Nazi remnant" after it prevented Turkish politicians from holding rallies.
The Dutch government first barred Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu from flying into Rotterdam and later stopped Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya from entering the Turkish consulate there, before escorting her back to Germany. Dutch police used dogs sand water cannons to disperse hundreds of protesters gathering outside the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam.
"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."
Kurtulmus, the government's chief spokesman, also threatened to scrap Turkey's deal to stop the flow of migrants into Europe, saying the agreement may need to be re-evaluated. He said high-level government meetings would be suspended between the two countries until the Netherlands had atoned for its actions.
Earlier Erdogan threatened to take the Dutch to the European Court of Human Rights.