[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.