Leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has said Turkey has the right to impose sanctions on the Netherlands after the Dutch government on Saturday withdrew the flight clearance for Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s aircraft.
Çavuşoğlu was scheduled to fly to Rotterdam on Saturday for a campaign rally for a public referendum in Turkey on April 16, but the flight clearance for his airplane to land in the country was canceled just hours before his flight.
“Imposing sanctions [on the Netherlands] is our right. … It [prohibiting the Turkish minister’s plane from landing in the Netherlands] can never be right. Countries that defend democracy can never do such things. You talk about being democratic but also cancel the flight clearance of a minister of the Republic of Turkey. We could never find this to be right; this is wrong,” Kılıçdaroğlu said on private broadcaster CNNTürk Saturday.
The CHP also cancelled all of its scheduled programs abroad after many European countries prevented Turkish ministers from hosting campaign rallies there.
Earlier on Saturday, Çavuşoğlu said during a live interview with CNNTürk that Turkey would impose sanctions on the Netherlands if the country cancels his flight clearance.