UNTIL this week, the referendum called by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, to change his country’s constitution and grant himself almost complete control over the government seemed to be a purely Turkish affair. This was inconvenient for the president’s cause. It would be easier for him to persuade Turks to vote him more power if he could frame the campaign as a battle against foreigners opposed to his rule.
Now Mr Erdogan has succeeded in doing just that. On March 11th the Netherlands refused landing rights to an aeroplane carrying Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, who was on his way to address a referendum rally of Turkish-Dutch dual nationals in Rotterdam. Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, said the two governments had been negotiating to limit the rally’s risks to safety and public order, but that Mr Cavusoglu had threatened to retaliate if he was not allowed in. (In an interview, Mr Cavusoglu had said that if his landing rights were revoked, “our sanctions will be heavy.”) Mr Rutte said the threat made further discussions impossible.
The Turkish reaction was furious. In a speech before a large crowd in Istanbul, Mr...Continue reading
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