Wilders urges ethnic test for Dutch parliament

THE HAGUE

Far-right Dutch politician and anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders on Wednesday urged an ethnic qualification for being a Dutch lawmaker.

"This is the Netherlands' parliament, you have to be Dutch here. I don’t want a Turk, a Moroccan, or a Swede in parliament. Don't I have a right to say that? This is my country," Wilders, a Dutch lawmaker notorious for his anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant views, said in parliament.

Wilders, leader of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV), also spoke out against a deputy or a government minister having dual citizenship, saying that they must be loyal to the country of their parliament, not to two countries.

Tunahan Kuzu, the leader of Denk, a party founded by ethnic Turkish lawmakers, rebuffed Wilders' remarks, saying: "Dual citizenship means nothing about a person's loyalty to the country. One's loyalty can be measured by his character. "

On Wilders' proposed ethnic requirement, Kuzu pointed out: "The country’s constitution -- not Wilders -- decides who’s Dutch."

This March, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu blasted Wilders' "racist, fascist" mentality.

Wilders’ PVV won 20 seats in the House of Representatives in elections this March.

During the campaign, Wilders pledged to take the Netherlands out of the EU, close all mosques, and ban the Quran.

Reporting by Abdullah Asiran; Writing by Fatma Bulbul