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Report: Turkish minister prohibited by police from entering consulate in Rotterdam

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Turkish Minister of Family and Social Policy Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya on Saturday was not allowed to enter the Turkish Consulate General in Rotterdam after the car bringing her from Germany was stopped by Dutch police, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

In reaction to the Dutch decision to prevent her from entering the Turkish mission in Rotterdam, Minister Kaya said: “We want European countries, especially the Netherlands, to quickly return to the democratic values which they say they are for.”

Video footage shows Dutch police telling the Turkish minister that they will not allow her to enter the consulate and that they can escort her while returning to Germany. Kaya declines and says she wants to go to the consulate. The police, however, refuse to allow it. Kaya said on Twitter that she was kept 30 meters from consulate building but not allowed to go in and added, “Netherlands is violating all international laws, conventions and human rights by not letting me enter Turkish Consulate in Rotterdam.”

Speaking to Anadolu, Sadin Ayyıldız, the Turkish consul general in Rotterdam, had said Minister Kaya’s car was stopped at some place unknown to him.

“I do not exactly know where the car was stopped. As you can see, I am not allowed to go to the place where the minister was stopped,” he said.

Dutch public NOS TV reported that the minister’s car was stopped close to the Turkish Consulate.

Turkish state media teams and others in the minister’s convoy were not allowed entry to the Netherlands and were asked to return to Germany.

Programs in which Kaya had planned to participate were previously cancelled.

Minister Kaya decided go to Rotterdam by car despite the fact that the Netherlands on Saturday canceled the flight clearance for Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s aircraft to land in Holland.

Earlier, Dutch police closed off the road in front of the Turkish consulate residence in Rotterdam after Kaya announced she would travel to the city by car.

Çavuşoğlu was scheduled to fly to Rotterdam on Saturday for a campaign rally, but the flight clearance for his airplane was canceled just hours before his flight.

Çavuşoğlu said Saturday during a live interview with CNNTürk that Turkey would impose sanctions on the Netherlands if the country were to cancel clearance for his flight later in the day.

“Now there is the Netherlands. Dutch [nationalist politician Geert] Wilders acts like a Nazi. He threatens the foreign minister of the Turkish Republic with not letting the airplane take off. But I will go today,” said Çavuşoğlu.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatened to refuse Dutch aircraft the right to land in Turkey.

“Don’t allow our foreign minister’s plane to go there as much as you want — let’s see how your planes will come to Turkey from now on. I am talking about diplomacy here, I am not talking about citizens’ travel. That is another issue, and we will assess that later on,” Erdoğan said during a speech in İstanbul’s Bağcılar district.

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