Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday slammed Yvan Mayeur, mayor of Brussels, for his remarks suggesting that he would not allow a small rally in support of Erdoğan in his city, defying the mayor and Belgian authorities not to let him participate in a NATO summit in Brussels if they can.
Mayeur’s remarks came on Wednesday after media reports suggesting that Erdoğan would arrive in Brussels for the NATO summit 12-14 hours earlier than expected. He said the organization of a small celebration in Brussels for Erdoğan is out of the question.
“I go there to visit neither the Brussels Municipality nor the Belgian authorities. I go there for the NATO summit. If he is powerful enough to say ‘I won’t allow Erdoğan to participate in the NATO summit,’ or if Belgian authorities are powerful enough to say that, let them do so,” Erdoğan said at Ankara Esenboğa Airport before leaving for an official visit to China.
“The mayor of Brussels is not a NATO member. He is not in a position to talk on behalf of NATO. It is better he does his own work and think about how to clean the streets of Brussels,” Erdoğan added.