ANKARA
In the latest salvo over the Netherlands blocking Turkish government ministers from attending rallies in the country as well as a crackdown on protests by expatriate Turks, Ankara has sent diplomatic notes protesting the incidents, the Foreign Ministry announced Monday.
Turkish government and opposition leaders alike have strongly condemned the incidents Saturday, in which the Dutch government canceled Turkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu's flight permit to the Netherlands and then blocked a convoy carrying Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya from entering the Turkish Consulate in Rotterdam.
When Turkish citizens in the Rotterdam peacefully protested these developments, they were met by police using batons, dogs, and water cannons, in what some called a disproportionate use of force.
Turkey’s first note to the Netherlands decried the mistreatment of Kaya and Turkish diplomats, saying it clearly violated the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, according to the Foreign Ministry Press Office.
The convention is an international treaty specifying the privileges of a diplomatic mission that enables diplomats to perform their functions without fear of coercion or harassment by the host country.
Kaya’s vehicle was blocked from entering the Rotterdam consulate, which is legally Turkish soil, where she was due to meet members of the Turkish community ahead of a referendum on April 16 on constitutional changes.
She was later forced to leave the consulate area with a police escort.
The first note also demands that the Dutch government investigate the incident and inform the Turkish government of the results.
The second note concerned the mistreatment of the Turkish community and citizens who exercised their right to peaceful demonstration in Rotterdam.
The note said that the community and citizens had been subjected to inhumane treatment and insults by Dutch authorities.
The Foreign Ministry demanded punishments for security forces who prevented the Turkish community from exercising their right to peaceful demonstration and mistreated them.
