Erdogan blames Dutch for Srebrenica – CNN.com

With high-level diplomatic relations between Turkey and the Netherlands already frozen, Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed the Dutch for failing to prevent the killing of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims when Bosnian Serb forces overran the town in 1995. In a reference to Dutch United Nations peacekeepers who were on the ground and failed to prevent the mass killing, Erdogan said Tuesday: "We know the Dutch and the people in Holland from the massacre of Srebrenica. We know them, how they massacred people in Srebrenica full well. We don't need anyone to give us a lesson on civilization."

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte responded to the remarks, accusing Erdogan of "a disgusting falsification of history."

In an interview with Dutch broadcaster RTL, Rutte said: "[Erdogan] continues to push the limits. This is of unbelievably low quality and style. We are not going to reduce ourselves to this level. This is very unacceptable and extremely irritating."

The Turkish president's incendiary comments -- made during a speech in Ankara -- came amid an escalating row sparked by Turkish officials being blocked from addressing political rallies in the Netherlands.

Shortly after Cavusoglu was refused entry, the Dutch stopped Turkey's Family Affairs Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya from entering the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam. She was later escorted out of the country.

Violent clashes erupted after the action against the two ministers who had hoped to drum up support for an April 16 referendum to give greater powers to Erdogan.

Erdogan has already made angry remarks against the Dutch since the incidents in Rotterdam -- comparing the current government to Nazis.

The Netherlands lost more than 200,000 of its citizens when it was occupied by Nazi Germany in World War II and Rutte has demanded an apology.

On Monday, Turkey announced that it would not allow the Dutch ambassador to Ankara to return to Turkey and suspended high-level diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The growing tensions come ahead of the Dutch general election on Wednesday; far-right candidate Geert Wilders' anti-Islam, anti-EU Party for Freedom (PVV) is expected to make a strong showing.

Erdogan also implored Dutch voters of immigrant backgrounds not to cast their ballots for Wilders, who he described as an "extreme racist" or Prime Minister Rutte in Wednesday's election.

CNN's Rosalyn Saab, James Gray and Schams Elwazer also contributed to this report.

The rest is here:
Erdogan blames Dutch for Srebrenica - CNN.com

Related Posts

Comments are closed.