Netherlands’ ambassador withdrawn from Turkey

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The Netherlands’ ambassador to Turkey will officially be withdrawn from Ankara, the Dutch foreign ministry said in a statement released on Monday, following disagreements in bilateral talks.

“Recent talks offered Turkey and the Netherlands an opportunity to come closer to each other, but we have not been able to agree on the way normalization should take place,” said Halbe Zijlstra, the Dutch Foreign Minister. 

“Therefore the Dutch government has decided to officially withdraw the Netherlands’ Ambassador in Ankara, who has not had access to Turkey since March 2017,” the statement read.

Tensions between the two nations escalated after the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s flight was cancelled by the Dutch authorities in March of last year.

Cavusoglu was on his way to take part in the rally in support of the Yes campaign for the Turkish referendum in April of 2017. The rally was cancelled by Dutch authorities on the grounds of public safety and security. 

Cavusoglu had earlier warned that Turkey would impose “severe sanctions” against Netherlands if they revoked the permit for his flight.

“The Turkish threat made the quest for a reasonable compromise impossible, and led to the Dutch decision to deny landing rights,” a statement from the Dutch foreign ministry stated in response to Cavusoglu’s comments.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan commenting on the cancelled flight described the Dutch government as “Nazi remnants and fascists.”

FM Cavusoglu vowed that Turkey’s response would be “10 times stronger” against any step taken by the Dutch.

Turkey then closed the Dutch embassy and consulates by stopping any movements to and out of the buildings. It also asked the Dutch ambassador to Ankara, who was out of Turkey at the time, to stay away “for a while”.

As the Netherland’s ambassador has been officially pulled out of Ankara, the Dutch government will also not allow the new Turkish ambassador to take up duties in the Netherlands.

“This message has just been conveyed to the Turkish chargé d’affaires in The Hague. This has brought a pause in the talks with Turkey,” Monday’s statement read.