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Turkey-Netherlands row: Dutch warn citizens after Erdogan threat BBC News The Netherlands has warned its citizens over travel to Turkey as a row between the countries shows no sign of abating. Germany, Austria and the Netherlands blocked Turkish attempts to hold rallies in those countries. Turkish President Recep Tayyip ... Turkey's Erdogan warns Dutch will pay price for disputeBBC News Turkey's Erdogan says Netherlands acting like a 'banana republic'Eyewitness News Dutch-Turkish row: Why is president Recep Tayyip Erdogan obsessed with Nazis?Telegraph.co.uk Voice of America -9news.com.au all 1,027 news articles »

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Turkey-Netherlands row: Dutch warn citizens after Erdogan threat - BBC News

BRISHKEK The series of terrorist attacks that have struck Turkey over the last year are sending the country once viewed as a democratic, secular model for the Middle East into a death spiral at the very moment when its people are to vote on a new constitution next month. Tourism which had accounted for more than 10 percent of Turkeys GDP is withering, and foreign direct investment is set to slow considerably. These outcomes will reinforce each other, producing a vicious cycle that will be difficult to halt.

Turkeys government-controlled media and large swaths of the population see the nefarious hand of the West in the countrys unraveling. Observers often blame Turkeys deepening plight on its inability to reconcile traditional Islam and modernizing Western tendencies, as well as on external events, such as the conflict in Syria. But decisions by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have also contributed to Turkeys vulnerability to terrorism.

Erdogans first such decision, motivated by his desire to see Syrias Assads regime collapse, was to allow fighters, including recruits for the Islamic State, to cross Turkeys southern border into Syria relatively freely. He failed to recognize fully the danger these fighters posed to Turkeys own security, particularly as many of them joined Islamist-affiliated groups that are as hostile to Turkey as they are to Assad.

Erdogans second fateful decision was to re-launch the on-again, off-again civil war with Turkeys Kurds. In the early years of his presidency, Erdogan reached out to the Kurds and managed, more or less, to halt active hostilities. But, in June 2015, his Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its parliamentary majority, prompting him to resume open hostilities with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels. Erdogans gambit allowed the AKP to retake a parliamentary majority in a snap election that November, but at the cost of reopening the Pandoras box of civil war.

Despite these two decisions, it might have been possible for the Turkish security forces to continue protecting the country from both Islamist and Kurdish terrorism. But a third decision ruled that out: Erdogan chose to break with Fethullah Gulen, the expatriate cleric whose influential followers had for many years been among Erdogans most important allies. Over the course of roughly six years, the Gulenists had helped Erdogan to oust military and police cadres (among many other public-sector employees) who were loyal to Turkish secular and nationalist ideals, rather than to his own soft Islamism. But, in 2013, Erdogan, suspecting that the Gulenists had begun plotting against him, began turning on them.

The short-lived coup attempt last July spurred a vengeful Erdogan to organize a massive purge of the military and security services. While it certainly makes sense for a government to prosecute those who have attempted to overthrow it, Erdogan took matters significantly further, pursuing anyone with the slightest potential connection to Gulen. In the process, he severely weakened the capacity of Turkeys police and military.

At a moment when threats from Islamist and Kurdish groups were intensifying, that was the last thing Turkey needed. Perhaps Erdogan should have recalled Joseph Stalins purge of the Red Armys officer corps in the late 1930s, which left the Soviet Union almost defenseless, opening the way for Adolf Hitler to attack in 1941.

Turkey is now fully under the political control of a single individual and incapable of dealing with the multiple crises that it faces. Even in the best-case scenario, Turkey will be severely weakened, no longer capable of sustaining the regional leadership role that it played for nearly a century. In the worst-case scenario, Turkeys economy will collapse, sending huge numbers of refugees including Syrians and others currently in Turkey, as well as Turks themselves to Western Europe.

Not everyone is distressed by Turkeys misfortune. Russian President Vladimir Putin is probably more than pleased with the countrys transformation. In Putins worldview, the most dangerous countries are successful democracies allied with the West. Turkey used to be precisely that: a democratic and reasonably prosperous country and a longtime NATO member, moving swiftly to deepen its ties with the West.

Now, Turkey is becoming an economically weakened autocracy, wracked by terrorism and unable to defend itself, much less to help NATO project power. This is a dream come true for Putin. (It is also good news for Russias ally Iran, which can only welcome the destabilization of its main non-Arab Sunni rival in the region.) If Turkeys downward spiral generates a new wave of refugees bound for Europe, further destabilizing the European Union, all the better.

This is not to say that Putin has planned Turkeys downfall. He didnt have to. Leaders like Erdogan easily fall for Putins brand of modern dictatorship, which relies on disinformation and the trappings of democracy to bolster the rulers personal power. All Putin has to offer is inspiration, and perhaps some advice from time to time.

Beyond Turkey, U.S. President Donald Trump seems equally enamored of Putin. We shall see whether the United States with its economic strength, relative geographical isolation and strong institutions is better protected than Turkey against the influence of Putins malign example.

Andrew Wachtel is president of the American University of Central Asia Project Syndicate, 2017

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Erdogan sending Turkey into a death spiral - The Japan Times

The escalating dispute between Natoallies Turkey and the Netherlands hit a new low in the early hours of Sunday, with a Turkish minister escorted out of the country as persona non grata, less than a day after Turkey's foreign minister was denied entry, prompting president Recep Tayyip Erdoan to call the Dutch "Nazi remnants."

Mr Erdoan reacted furiously to Holland's decision prevent his foreign minister from entering the country in order to hold a pro-government rally with Turkish citizens living in Rotterdam.

"They are very nervous and cowardly. They are Nazi remnants, they are fascists," the Turkish leader told a crowd of his supporters in Istanbul.

Hours later, Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, Turkey's family and social policies minister, had arrived in the country from Germany but was prevented from entering her country's diplomatic compound in Rotterdam, setting up an extraordinary standoff with armed police. She was later sent under escort back to Germany.

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Sparks between Turkey and Holland as Erdogan calls the Dutch 'Nazi remnants' - Telegraph.co.uk

People of Sere kaniye in Syria's Hasakah province bidding farewell to Kurdish YPG fighters killed in clashes with ISIS. Photo: ARA News

ARA News

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan on Sunday said in a speech in which he criticized the Dutch government, that Turkey will still attack the town of Manbij, whichwas previously liberated from ISIS by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

We wont allow a terror state, controlled by the PKK and YPG, to be established in northern Syria, he said.

After Jarablus, Dabiq and Al-Bab, now its Manbijs turn, he added.

Moreover, the Turkish president said following his meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday, that Turkey wants to work with Russia and the US-led coalition in Manbij, requesting help to remove the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) from Manbij.

We, as Turkey and Russia, want to cooperate with the coalition forces there, he said.If the Coalition powers are with us, we can take out YPG from Manbij.

Our people [Turks] in the Netherlands] are under attack. Thats why we should attack Afrin, Kobane, Qamishlo, Manbij, and Tal Abyad pro-Turkish government reporter Yilmaz Bilgen said on Saturday.

Speaking to ARA News by phone from Qamishli, Sihanouk Dibo, the presidential adviser to the Democratic Union Party (PYD), said that it isunlikely that Russia or the US-led coalition will stoptheirsupport tothe SDF in Manbij.

It seems there is one policy in the international community, he said. They are all against terrorism and support the SDF and Syrian Democratic Council project.

Moreover, Diboconfirmed that until now the Syrian Kurdish representative office in Moscow led by Rodi Osman has not been closed.

Nawaf Xelil, a Kurdish analyst and former official from the Democratic Union Party (PYD), told ARA News that the Erdogan-Putin meeting should be understood in the context of Turkeys difficulties in al-Bab, where they and their allies were bogged down for months.

In my opinion, the Americans and Russians will not allow Turkey [to assault Manbij], because all Syriacs, Arabs and Kurds are united in the Syrian Democratic Forces, he reasoned. Turkey knows the United States will not change its plans.

Xelil added that the SDF are now on the banks of the Euphrates River [] 8 kilometers from Raqqa, and they have cut the roads between Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, the Islamic States (ISIS) largest urban strongholds.

In contrast, the Kurdish analyst believes that Turkey is being considered asineffective, placing itself in a bad situation, with bad relations with its neighbors and the West.

Turkey is in a weak position, it has bad relations with Iraq, Syria, Iran, Germany, and now also Holland is telling Turkey to not make propaganda there [for the April presidential referendum], Xelil told ARA News.

Recently, the Netherlands did not allow the Turkish Foreign Minister to campaign for the Turkish presidential referendum on Saturday, and also deported a Turkish minister from the country.

The countries in the European Union, such as Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway are unhappy with Turkey and its Middle East policy, Sihanouk Dibo said.

Previously, a UN report showed how the AKP is against the Kurdish people in North Kurdistan. TheUNstance is that Turkeyspolicy is wrong, he added. They should accept the federal project in northern Syria.

Reporting by: Wladimir van Wilgenburg | Source: ARA News

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Turkey's Erdogan vows to continue attacking Kurds in northern Syria - ARA News

Supporters of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan walk to the Dutch consulate in Istanbul on Saturday. Turkey and the Netherlands escalated their spat on Saturday as the Dutch withdrew landing permission for the Turkish foreign minister's plane. Emrah Gurel/AP hide caption

Supporters of Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan walk to the Dutch consulate in Istanbul on Saturday. Turkey and the Netherlands escalated their spat on Saturday as the Dutch withdrew landing permission for the Turkish foreign minister's plane.

Tensions ramped up quickly between Turkey and the Netherlands Saturday, after the Dutch government not only disallowed Turkey's foreign minister from holding a public rally in the country, but revoked his flight permit to even land there.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan fumed about the Dutch government after the news, while speaking to a crowd in Istanbul.

"They are very nervous and cowardly. They are Nazi remnants, they are fascists," Erdogan said, according to The Daily Telegraph.

He also suggested that Turkey may bar Dutch diplomatic flights from landing in his country as retaliation.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte responded to journalists, while he campaigned on Saturday. The Netherlands will hold a national election on March 15.

"It's a crazy remark of course," Rutte said. "I understand they're angry, but this of course was way out of line."

The dust-up began because Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was planning to hold a rally for Turkish expatriates in support of Erdogan in Rotterham, a city near the coast of southern Holland.

Turkey is holding a referendum vote in April on increasing the president's power, and many expatriates living throughout the European Union still have voting rights. As of 2015, there were about 75,000 Turkish nationals living in the Netherlands.

Officials in Rotterham wanted the Turkish foreign minister to meet with supporters in private because of potential unrest, reports Teri Schultz:

"But even before these negotiations were completed, the Dutch foreign ministry says, (Turkey) started threatening sanctions against the Netherlands, which made it impossible to find a compromise and thus landing rights for Cavusoglu's plane were withdrawn."

In response, Turkey's Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya decided to go to Rotterham by road from Germany. She said on Twitter that she was stopped about 100 feet from the Turkish consulate in Rotterham, and prevented from entering the building, according to Reuters.

And Saturday evening, the Dutch Embassy in Ankara and its consulate in Istanbul were closed off by Turkish authorities for security reasons, according to a Turkish foreign ministry official who spoke with the AP through customary anonymity.

Recently, a similar yet milder tension arose between Turkey and Germany as well.

The German government canceled a rally by a Turkish minister citing security reasons, as reported by NPR, and President Erdogan responded by saying the practices were "no different than the Nazi ones of the past."

Erdogan also appeared to threaten the Germans, saying, "If you don't let me in, or if you don't let me speak, I will make the whole world rise up."

In Germany, there are about 1.5 million Turkish expatriates that can vote on the April referendum.

If passed, the referendum would give the Turkish president the ability to impose a state of emergency and to intervene within the judicial system. The referendum would also set a schedule of elections that could allow Erdogan to stay in power until 2029. He first became leader of the country in 2002.

"Yes" voters argue that the new rules would modernize a Turkish constitution that was put in place after a military coup in 1982, reports NPR's Peter Kenyon. "No" supporters say it would give other branches of government very little power to counter the president.

"It [would be] a strong presidency, nothing like any president of the United States has ever experienced," one political scientist, Ersin Kalaycioglu, told Kenyon. "If this amendment carries, then for a while, Turkey will have a system with very little, if any, checks and balances, as far as many of the experts can see."

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