The Netherlands and Turkey restore diplomatic relations

The Netherlands and Turkey will fully restore their seriously disturbed diplomatic relations since last March. The two countries will again send ambassadors to their respective capitals in the short term. Minister Blok (Foreign Affairs, VVD) will make an official visit to Turkey next autumn

On 11 July, on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Brussels, Minister Blok met with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlüt Çavusoglu. . The Netherlands does not apologize to Turkey for not allowing the ministers, which was the cause of the quarrel. "We exchanged what we think of the events of March 11, 2017 in Rotterdam and declare that we do not agree on this," said Minister Blok in a statement.

Why was Minister Kaya not allowed? Read the reconstruction

The quarrel arose last year in March when the Netherlands refused to admit Turkish ministers who wanted to campaign with the Turkish Dutch for the constitutional referendum President Erdogan. Minister Çavusoglu's plane was banned from landing, the Turkish Minister of Family Affairs Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya, who had driven from Germany to the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam, was deported under police escort. This caused serious disturbances in Rotterdam and great turmoil in Turkey.

As a countermeasure, Turkey decided not to allow Dutch ambassador Kees van Rij, who was in the Netherlands, to return to the country. In addition, Dutch government planes were denied permission to land in Turkey. It has also been threatened with economic sanctions, but they have never been implemented. At the lower level, like police cooperation, contacts are simply maintained.