Denmark calls on Turkish PM to delay planned visit

Pro-Erdogan activists shout slogans during a protest in front of the Dutch Consulate in Istanbul on Sunday. (Reuters)

STOCKHOLM: Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen on Sunday called on his Turkish counterpart Binali Yildirim to delay a visit planned for later this month because of “tensions” between Ankara and the Netherlands.
“Such a visit could not take place in light of the current attacks by Turkey against the Netherlands. Therefore I proposed to my Turkish colleague to postpone our meeting,” Rasmussen said in a statement.
“In normal circumstances, it would be a pleasure to welcome (Yildirim) with whom I had a frank and constructive dialogue on Dec. 10 in Ankara,” he added.
Yildirim’s visit had been planned for March 20, according to Danish radio station DR.
Rasmussen said Denmark “was following with serious concern the events Turkey, where democratic principles are under great pressure.”
A diplomatic row has erupted between Turkey and the Netherlands after the Dutch prevented top Turkish ministers from holding rallies ahead of a referendum on expanding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.
Erdogan accused the Netherlands — which was occupied by the Germans in World War II — of behaving like the Nazis.
Turkey’s foreign minister said in France on Sunday that the Netherlands is the “capital of fascism.”
Some 800 flag-waving Turks gathered in the eastern French city of Metz for the address by Mevlut Cavusoglu.
The “fascism” comment echoed accusations by Erdogan himself, both Saturday and again on Sunday, when he said the Netherlands was behaving like the Nazis in its treatment of Turkish ministers.
The Metz rally, which had the blessing of the French authorities, was planned weeks ago but took on “another dimension” because of the row between Ankara and The Hague, said Saban Kiper, vice president of a grouping in France of Turkish associations.
“France has a more serene attitude than the Netherlands,” he said.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in a statement there was “no reason to prohibit this gathering that... poses no possibility of interference in French political life.”