Ankara on Tuesday rejected the EU’s call for de-escalating a diplomatic row over Turkish political campaigning abroad, saying the words out of Brussels have “no value for us.”
The European Commission urged Turkey to calm down the situation, after the dispute hit a new low with a Dutch decision to bar a rally at the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam over the weekend.
The Turkish government hit back, calling the EU’s position “incorrect” and “short-sighted.”
“The EU’s statement fuels extremism, such as xenophobia and anti-Turkish sentiments, because the call to refrain from excessive statements and actions that risk further exacerbating the situation is made only to Turkey,’’ the Foreign Ministry said.
It said after the cancellation of rallies in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands, Turkish President Recep Erdogan has repeatedly lashed out at EU leaders.
He called the Dutch government “Nazi remnants,’’ accused Germany of supporting “Nazi practices’’ and said German Chancellor Angela Merkel supports terrorists.
The Turkish government is appealing to its citizens living abroad to vote “Yes” in an April 16 referendum that would expand the powers of Erdogan’s office.
Report says in Germany, around 1.4 million Turks are eligible to vote.
The governments of Germany and France, along with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, have urged Ankara to tone down its rhetoric.
“We have to keep a cool head,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said, a day after Turkey announced it was cutting off all high-level contacts with the Netherlands and closing off its airspace to Dutch diplomats.
However, Rutte said he would not apologise to Turkey, as Erdogan has demanded.
Recently the Netherlands barred the Turkish foreign minister’s plane from landing. He had been scheduled to address the rally at the Rotterdam consulate on Saturday. Another Turkish minister who arrived by car to the consulate was escorted by police out of the country.
The Dutch response prompted pro-Turkey protests in Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
