Ahmed Aboutaleb, the mayor of Rotterdam, said he was misled by the Turkish consul general, who told him Turkish Minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya was coming to the city not to deliver a political speech but for a visit.
Murat Kani reported the mayor’s statement from Rotterdam for the TR724 news website.
Aboutalib said Consul General Sadin Ayyıldız told him that Turkish Minister of Family and Social Policy Kaya would not deliver a speech to campaign for an April 16 referendum in Turkey. The mayor said the Dutch authorities prevented the holding of a political event after he was misled by the consulate.
In response to criticism by Turkey that the Netherlands were “Nazi remnants,” Aboutalib said it was the people of Rotterdam who suffered from the Nazi regime in 1945 when the city was bombed.
The mayor of Rotterdam said they are against the political propaganda of Turkish ministers in the city and that that is why they prevented Kaya from entering the consulate.
Kaya was expelled from the Netherlands and returned to Turkey from Germany on Sunday.
The Turkish government has been criticized for conducting political rallies across Europe to win the support of millions of Turkish citizens eligible to vote in Turkish elections.