Family Minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya said on March 12 that Dutch police is escorting her back to Germany after having been barred from entering the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam amid an escalating row between the two countries, Hurriyet reported.
“I am being taken to Germany from the Nijmegen border with democratic and humanitarian values disregarded. I condemn this on behalf of all my citizens,” Kaya said in a tweet.
Sayan Kaya, who had arrived from Germany by road, was intercepted by Dutch police late on March 11 near the consulate building hours after Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu’s flight clearance to Rotterdam was cancelled over “security” and “public safety” issues.
Dutch police officers blocked around one kilometer of the road in front of the residence of the Turkish consul general to Rotterdam, where Çavuşoğlu’s meeting with Turkish citizens ahead of the April 16 referendum would take place.
Sayan Kaya said she requested the Netherlands and European countries to return back to “the democratic values they say to defend” after being intercepted.
Thousands of protesters waving Turkish flags gathered outside the Rotterdam consulate, demanding to welcome the minister while protests also erupted in Istanbul and Ankara in front of the Dutch diplomatic missions which had been sealed off after the Dutch move.
Dutch police later used water cannon and horses to break up the protests following the minister's leave.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said late March 11 that they have conveyed to the Netherlands their will for the Dutch envoy to Ankara to not return to his post for a while upon the cancellation of Çavuşoğlu’s flight permit.
“It has been notified that we do not wish for the Dutch ambassador, who is currently on leave outside of Turkey, to return to his job for a while,” read a statement issued by the ministry.