Turkey will "surely have sanctions" against the Netherlands, the Turkish EU Minister Omer Celik said today without giving details, as a diplomatic row between the NATO partners over Ankara's political campaigning abroad shows no sign of abating.
The Dutch foreign ministry issued today a new travel warning, urging its citizens in Turkey to take care and noting the new "diplomatic tensions". The warning to "avoid gatherings and crowded places" came as Turkey's foreign ministry lodged a formal protest with the Dutch envoy, BBC reported.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry also summoned a Dutch diplomat to formally protest the treatment of a Turkish minister in the Netherlands over the weekend, and what it said was a "disproportionate" use of force against demonstrators in an ensuing protest.
The Dutch Embassy's charge d'affaires, Daan Feddo Huisinga, was called to the Foreign Ministry where a senior official handed him two formal protest notes, the ministry said.
The first protested against the treatment of Family Affairs Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya, who was escorted out of the Netherlands after she entered by road from Germany to try to attend a rally to promote a constitutional reforms referendum in Turkey next month.
In the note, the Turkish Foreign Ministry condemned what it said were practices contrary to international conventions, diplomatic courtesy and diplomatic immunities and requested a written apology from the Dutch authorities, a ministry statement said.
The second note protested the treatment of Turkish citizens who had gathered outside the Turkish Consulate in Rotterdam, saying "disproportionate force" had been used against "people using their right to peaceful gatherings. It added that Turkish nationals had been subjected to "inhumane and derogatory" treatment and called for those responsible to be identified and punished, the AP reported.
The deputy head of the Council of the Russian Diplomats Association, Andrey Baklanov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, said that the diplomatic scandal between Turkey and the Netherlands, apart from serious political reasons, has been caused by a poor diplomatic work and a general decline in the level of professionalism in the diplomatic work of many countries.
"Experience shows that, in principle, it is possible for representatives of a country to participate in activities that take place in a territory where immigrants from this country live. But from a diplomatic point of view, the country, which sends its representative for holding an election campaign or a referendum, must outline very clearly all the issues in advance. Two issues should be solved here: the first one is about the political possibility of holding such events and the second is about security issues. That is, there must be very serious preliminary work," the diplomat noted.
"As a rule, the most experienced ambassadors - just to be certain - try to make sure that there is an exchange of notes at the level of written correspondence. At the same time, the parties agree on ensuring security and so on, and only after this work is carried out, the visit takes place. I have the impression that in this case such work has not been done," Andrey Baklanov suggested.
According to the deputy head of the Council of the Russian Diplomats Association, it is unlikely that because of the conflict, Turkey will abandon the program on refugees and open the European borders for the flow of migrants. He also believes that we should not expect that because of the conflict, the European Union will officially refuse to accept Turkey as its member.
"Now these disagreements can be overcome by appropriate diplomatic moves. But it is possible if any accumulated negative does not lead to the fact that someone will try to use this case for larger decisions," Andrey Baklanov concluded.
