Ankara reluctant to play host to controversial Dutch politician

Dutch right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders is among members of a delegation from the Netherlands House of Representatives that will pay a visit to Turkey in early January, news reports have said.

During a regular press conference on Wednesday, when asked about the ministry’s view of the visit, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Burak Özügergin first of all noted that the ministry had no detailed information on the date or occasion of the visit and that whether it will take place is a political decision which is not up to the ministry.

“What matters is our view of the said individuals’ thoughts which are racist and unacceptable,” Özügergin said. “What’s saddening is the fact that if the visit takes place, the entire interest of the media will focus on this issue. The positive aspect of the visit will remain in the shadow,” Özügergin went on to say.

“This is unfair for Turkey-Netherlands relations. We consider the Netherlands to be a partner in Europe. And we consider them as a partner-to-be within the European Union in the future, when Turkey eventually becomes a member.” He said that Turkey-Netherlands relations don’t “deserve” the possibility of such coverage simply because of a certain politician’s controversial views.

Demonstrators chant slogans in front of the Dutch Consulate General in İstanbul on April 4, 2008 during a protest against a film titled “Fitna” by Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

Wilders outraged Muslims by comparing the Quran to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and calling for an end to Muslim immigration to the Netherlands. He has defended his right to criticize the actions of a minority that he says poses a threat to society.

During the European Parliament elections in early summer, running an anti-Muslim and anti-Turkey campaign, Wilders got 17 percent of the vote, and his Party for Freedom became the second-largest party after the Christian Democrats and before the Socialists in what was once known to be one of the most liberal countries on earth. In his victory speech Wilders said: “Should Turkey as an Islamic country be able to join the European Union? We are the only party in Holland that says it is an Islamic country, so no, not in 10 years, not in a million years.”

At the time, Ankara had harshly criticized European political parties using discourse against its EU bid as electioneering material in the European Parliament elections, warning that such electioneering was misleading the electorate and strengthening xenophobic tendencies.

“The Turks are showing their true face with these stupid words and prove they must never be allowed to join the EU. I’m neither a fascist nor a racist,” Wilders was quoted as saying by Radio Netherlands on Wednesday, in an apparent response to Ankara’s unwillingness to host him. He added it would be a “disgrace of the first order” if he were not included in the delegation, and “capitulating to an autocratic regime.”

In separate remarks published in the Wednesday edition of Turkish daily Akşam, Wilders suggested that his view of Islam was in compliance with the view of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic on the same issue.

“The only structure which protects the secular legacy of Atatürk is the army, not the president or the prime minister. Your country’s identity is increasingly Islamized,” he was quoted as saying by the daily.

Özügergin, meanwhile, described the appointment of Briton Catherine Ashton as the 27-nation bloc’s foreign policy chief as “good news.”

“Now the EU has obtained a telephone number,” he said, referring to a question long attributed to former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: Who do I call if I want to call Europe? “Now the EU will guard the long-held interests of the union, instead of being negatively influenced by member-countries’ narrow-minded calculations. Then Europe will see Turkey as a valuable partner.”