[tomp]

I wouldn't be that sure - the tensions escalated before today's Dutch elections, but the cause of the escalation was the current ruling party (the PM banned some turkish gatherings/protests, and then blocked a Turkish minister's plane from landing in the Netherlands). So one could argue that the mainstream party tried to woo right-wing-ish voters by taking a stronger stance against Turks/muslims.

[fauigerzigerk]

The stance taken wasn't against Turks or Muslims though. It was against an authoritarian ruler campaigning in another country to grab even more power for himself.

[raverbashing]

Exactly this

The one with dictatorial tendencies here is Erdogan

[teekert]

I agree, but the PM (Rutte) and his party are definitely benefiting. He had many opportunities before to go harder on Erdogan i.e. when Erdogan bought oil from IS but "we" needed him to keep refugees out of Europe.

The stance is certainly not against Muslims although people might feel it that way. It is against the fact the pro-Erdogan Turks and anti-Erdogan Turks and Curds etc cause unrest in the Netherlands. Most people are welcoming of other cultures but not when they bring their political unrest with them. This whole circus was a signal to Turkey to keep Turkish politics within Turkey. Still, I'm certain our PM would have been less strong if there weren't any elections.

I don't understand Erdogan though, he called on the dutch Turks to not vote for the current PM and Geert Wilders (PVV, far right, anti immigration, pro Netherlands), and now this?! He must know that the couple of Turks that will listen to this will be overwhelmed by Dutchies wanting to vote anything that Erdogan doesn't like... It's like he is intentionally putting oil on the fire, helping PVV. Why is the very important questions, what does he or some other party have to gain? Who benefits from poor EU/Turkey relations?

Edit: after thinking some more: Of course Erdogan is the one who benefits greatly from the created "us against them sentiment" of the Turks. It distracts from all the turmoil and the approaching power grab.

[the_why_of_y]

Putting oil on the fire is a core part of Erdoğan's strategy. He's afraid that not enough Turks will vote in a couple weeks for the constitutional reform that will establish himself as dictator for life, so he has been trying to stoke nationalist resentment against EU countries for the last months, so that when they respond to his provocations he can represent himself as defender of the Turkish nation from outside attacks.

Erdoğan never missed an opportunity to escalate the situation.

The German government remained mostly calm despite numerous incidents such as preventing government officials from visiting German soldiers stationed in Turkey, the frivolous lawsuit where German citizen and journalist Deniz Yücel is accused of "terrorism", threats of sanctions for preventing public speeches of Turkish government officials (foreign officials have no free-speech rights in Germany, their speeches happen entirely at the pleasure of the German government), and regular Nazi name-calling of German politicians.

The Netherlands however have elections this week where a far-right populist could get many votes, so the current ruling party there (VVD) wants to position itself strongly against Erdoğan's aggressive antics in order to retain conservative voters. This is understandable, but of course it has the disadvantage that it plays right into Erdoğan's strategy.

[mkaziz]

Of all the governments in the world today, I am most impressed by Merkel's Germany. She has remarkable ability to stand strong in the face of criticism and do what's right without bowing to populism.

[netsharc]

There's a great profile that shows she's a sleuth politican, despite appearances of being a "Let's wait and see" sort of person. http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/31/angela-merkel-has-a-play...

[raverbashing]

Better late than never

If what it takes for them to do the right thing if fear of losing power to another candidate, so be it.

[mda]

Oh, how benevolent and gracious of them. Please.

[tremon]

but the cause of the escalation was the current ruling party

Of Turkey, yes. There's an understanding amongst democratic countries that you do not interfere in national elections. Sending a member of the cabinet to another country during national elections is interfering. Any Dutch government should have sent them packing, and the Turkish government was actually counting on that: now Erdogan has additional ammunition to paint the EU as an enemy. It surprises me that he hasn't declared The Netherlands to be secretly ruled by Gulen yet.

Do you really think it would have gone down nicely if the European Commission would have campaigned in England during the Brexit campaign? Or if Putin would have gone to the US to campaign for Trump?

[cr1895]

>the PM banned some turkish gatherings/protests

A Turkish minister's plane was denied landing rights because he intended to address a rally; the rally itself was not banned. Following that, a Turkish education minister was escorted out of the country after trying to address a rally that was surreptitiously arranged by the Turkish consulate. That rally was disbanded after it became unsafe.

[threeseed]

The PM never banned protests AFAIK.

This was the decision of local and state governments and was done because in the past similar protests became impossible to control. It's fair enough to allow protests about Dutch policies but a whole different story when it is purely about an internal Turkish issue.

You can't blame the Dutch for not rolling out the red carpet especially so close to an election.

[sinans]

It is a disaster in terms of democratic values to block a Minister 30 meters away from the Consulate and send her back. And no, nobody believes in the security argument. This move helped the right wing in both countries for the coming elections.

[cr1895]

>It is a disaster in terms of democratic values to block a Minister 30 meters away from the Consulate and send her back.

A minister of the Turkish government is not entitled to campaign in the Netherlands. She was asked not to do so, yet the consulate arranged for a rally and she attepmted to address that rally. She was therefore escorted out of the country as she abused her privelege of being there.

It's not as if a Dutch politician were blocked from campaigning a pro-Turkish message; this is about a member of a foreign government campaigning to Dutch citizens in the Netherlands (ironically campaigning for the furtherance of a regime which is increasingly undemocratic).