Dutch premier urges Turkish FM to stay away

The Dutch government said on March 9 it would not welcome the Turkish foreign minister to the Netherlands if he was coming to solicit the votes of local Turks in a constitutional referendum that would shift the parliamentary system to an executive presidency.

The Dutch government said Foreign Minister Bert Koenders had called his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavusoğlu, saying his planned visit was unwanted and he would not receive an official welcome should he still decide to come.

"It is not about him coming to the Netherlands. He can come to visit the Mauritshuis museum or see the tulips if there are any," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told a news conference in Brussels. 

"We do not want him holding rallies." 

Rutte added that not giving Çavuşoğlu an official welcome was the strongest signal his government could send, considering Turkey was a NATO ally.

After the city of Rotterdam refused to host a Çavuşoğlu rally, it was unclear where he would be able to speak.

Unease is spreading over Turkish ministers coming to Europe looking for vote. Several rallies have been cancelled in Germany, and Austria's interior minister said on March 7 he wanted to ban foreigners from campaigning there.

In the Netherlands, the Turkish campaign visits have become the focus of intense debate before parliamentary elections on March 15.

Anti-Islam nationalist Geert Wilders, running second in polls for the March 15 election, called for the entire Turkish cabinet to be banned from entering the Netherlands after Turkish Family and Social Affairs Minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya also announced plans to visit the country.

Wilders, whose far-right party has been losing ground to centrist parties, has sought to...