ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday a diplomatic row with the Netherlands could not be dismissed with an apology, and that further actions could be taken, after Turkey on Monday suspended high-level diplomatic ties with the Dutch.
Speaking at an event in Ankara, Erdogan also accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of attacking Turkey the same way Dutch police used dogs and water cannon to Turkish disperse protesters outside the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam.
Erdogan said Merkel was âno different from the Netherlands,â and urged emigre Turks to not vote for âthe government and the racistsâ in upcoming European elections.
Turkey has suspended high-level diplomatic relations with the Netherlands after Dutch authorities prevented its ministers from speaking at rallies of expatriate Turks in order to drum up support for an April referendum to grant Erdoganâs office sweeping powers, deepening the row between the two NATO allies.
In an interview with Haber television in Istanbul late Monday, Erdogan held the Netherlands responsible for a massacre during the Bosnian war in the 1990s.
"We know the Netherlands' understanding of civilization and morality from its role in the Srebrenica genocide," he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus has said the sanctions Turkey had slapped on the Netherlands would apply until the Netherlands takes steps âto redressâ the actions that Ankara sees as a grave insult.
âThere is a crisis and a very deep one. We didnât create this crisis or bring it to this stage,â Kurtulmus said. âThose who did have to take steps to redress the situation.â
Erdogan's government also advised parliament to withdraw from a Dutch-Turkish friendship group.
Erdogan says apology from Netherlands not enough, further sanctions may follow
Updated 14 March 2017