Turkish Minister of Family and Social Policy Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya, who was expelled from the Netherlands on March 11 after insisting on going to the residence of the Turkish Consulate General in Rotterdam to hold a campaign rally, said she heard the sound of weapons being cocked during the crisis that night with Dutch police, according to a story in the pro-government Sabah daily on Monday.
Kaya was prevented by police from entering the Turkish consulate residence in Rotterdam to deliver a campaign rally speech. After Minister Kaya announced that she would travel to Rotterdam by car from Germany, Dutch police stopped the her car and asked her to leave. She was declared persona non grata and expelled at the German border.
In a full-page interview published in the Sabah daily, Kaya said: “We experienced the July 15 coup attempt once again on that night. They [Dutch police] pointed guns at our vehicles and at us. We heard the sound of their triggers being cocked.”
Earlier the same day, the Netherlands had canceled the flight clearance for Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s aircraft to land in the country, also to attend a rally.
The developments led to a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and the Netherlands.
In the interview, Kaya also said they were made to wait at a police station at the Dutch-Germany border for 1.5 hours where the police officers told them they could go upstairs and have tea.
The minister said they rejected their offer to have some tea, saying, “We don’t want your tea, either.”
Kaya’s remarks contradicted earlier statements she made on March 12 claiming that the Dutch police did not even give them water for hours as the crisis was unfolding.
