Ankara summons Dutch envoy to Turkish Foreign Ministry

By Sultan Cogalan

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey summoned the charge d'affaires of the Netherlands to the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara on Saturday, according to a diplomatic source.

The move came after the Netherlands cancelled Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's flight permit, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.

The minister was scheduled to address the Turkish community in the Dutch city of Rotterdam later Saturday.

In its statement, Dutch Foreign Ministry said the decision to cancel the permit followed Cavusoglu's "threat" to impose sanctions on the Netherlands.

In remarks made during a live television interview on CNN Turk earlier, Cavusoglu said: "If the Netherlands cancels my flight, we will impose severe sanctions on them that will affect it economically and politically."

The Dutch statement said there was a consultation process with Turkish authorities to find an acceptable solution over the issue on the minister's visit.

The threat from Turkey about sanctions made it “impossible” to find a reasonable solution, it added.

Referring to the upcoming referendum in Turkey on constitutional reforms, the statement said there were many Turkish-origin people in the Netherlands who would participate in the polls.

The Dutch government has no objection to such meetings in our country which would inform those people, the statement said.

However, it claimed Turkish authorities did not want to respect rules for maintaining the order and safety of the community.

The Netherlands added it was determined to engage in dialogue with Turkey over the issue.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has slammed the Dutch move canceling Cavusoglu’s flight permit.

Addressing an inauguration ceremony in Istanbul Saturday, Erdogan said: “How will your country’s [diplomatic] flights come here now after not granting permission to our foreign minister?”