A planned rally in Rotterdam due to be attended by Turkey's foreign minister to drum up support in a high-stakes Turkish referendum has been cancelled, the Dutch city's mayor said Wednesday.
"The venue's owner has informed me he will no longer make it available" for the gathering, mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said in a letter to the port city's council.
A Turkish-Dutch political association had said Friday that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu would attend the rally, hoping to persuade hundreds of thousands of Turkish-origin Dutch citizens to vote "yes" in the April 16 referendum aimed at boosting the powers of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Dutch officials including Prime Minister Mark Rutte had condemned the plans as "undesirable".
Far-right MP Geert Wilders demonstrated outside the Turkish embassy in The Hague Wednesday, saying: "We say: 'Stay away from us, stay away from here, this is our country, this is the Netherlands'.
"We wouldn't allow lobbying for North Korea or Saudi Arabia in our country either. And this is Holland, so stay away."
Aboutaleb, who is of Moroccan origin, backed Rutte and said even if the organisers had tried to continue with the meeting it would have been nixed on safety grounds.
"I'm of the opinion that the minister's visit forms a direct risk to public order and safety in Rotterdam and could lead to increased polarisation and escalations," Aboutaleb said.
"I'm confident that the international diplomacy and politics will do its work and that the minister will cancel his visit," he added.
Tensions ran high among the city's sizable Turkish community after the abortive coup against Erdogan in July, when Turkish authorities arrested more than 40,000 people.
German towns last week banned four similar rallies which had been due to be attended by Turkish ministers, provoking anger from Ankara.
But Cavusoglu on Tuesday still attended a gathering in Hamburg.
Addressing a small crowd of 200 people in the northern German city he said the Berlin government should "not to give us lessons in human rights and democracy".
Previous gatherings involving Rotterdam's Turkish residents, who comprise around eight percent of the harbour city's total population, have often been tense.
A planned rally in Rotterdam due to be attended by Turkey’s foreign minister to drum up support in a high-stakes Turkish referendum has been cancelled, the Dutch city’s mayor said Wednesday.
“The venue’s owner has informed me he will no longer make it available” for the gathering, mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said in a letter to the port city’s council.
A Turkish-Dutch political association had said Friday that Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu would attend the rally, hoping to persuade hundreds of thousands of Turkish-origin Dutch citizens to vote “yes” in the April 16 referendum aimed at boosting the powers of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Dutch officials including Prime Minister Mark Rutte had condemned the plans as “undesirable”.
Far-right MP Geert Wilders demonstrated outside the Turkish embassy in The Hague Wednesday, saying: “We say: ‘Stay away from us, stay away from here, this is our country, this is the Netherlands’.
“We wouldn’t allow lobbying for North Korea or Saudi Arabia in our country either. And this is Holland, so stay away.”
Aboutaleb, who is of Moroccan origin, backed Rutte and said even if the organisers had tried to continue with the meeting it would have been nixed on safety grounds.
“I’m of the opinion that the minister’s visit forms a direct risk to public order and safety in Rotterdam and could lead to increased polarisation and escalations,” Aboutaleb said.
“I’m confident that the international diplomacy and politics will do its work and that the minister will cancel his visit,” he added.
Tensions ran high among the city’s sizable Turkish community after the abortive coup against Erdogan in July, when Turkish authorities arrested more than 40,000 people.
German towns last week banned four similar rallies which had been due to be attended by Turkish ministers, provoking anger from Ankara.
But Cavusoglu on Tuesday still attended a gathering in Hamburg.
Addressing a small crowd of 200 people in the northern German city he said the Berlin government should “not to give us lessons in human rights and democracy”.
Previous gatherings involving Rotterdam’s Turkish residents, who comprise around eight percent of the harbour city’s total population, have often been tense.
