Turkish Minister of Family and Social Policy Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya said on Sunday upon her arrival in İstanbul following her expulsion from the Netherlands that she was treated inhumanely in Holland and that most of her team’s basic needs were not met.
The minister was expelled on Saturday night after she insisted on going to the residence of the Turkish Consulate General in Rotterdam despite an earlier cancellation by the Dutch of the flight clearance for Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s aircraft to land in the country.
Minister Kaya was accompanied at a press conference by Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, who is also President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s son-in-law.
Kaya said despite criticism of a state of emergency (OHAL) in Turkey by European countries, the Netherlands declared OHAL in one night and attacked Turkish citizens with dogs, in reference to police intervention in protests that ensued after her expulsion from the country.
Under emergency rule, the government in Turkey has pressed ahead with many controversial decrees that have the force of the law and are not required to be approved by Parliament. In line with these decrees, over 135,000 people have been purged from state bodies on coup charges.
A total of 191 journalists are imprisoned in Turkey as well as thousands of judges, prosecutors, academics, diplomats and even a comedian over charges of terrorist links.