“Reason should prevail between our two countries because this crisis is equally detrimental to both of us,” Bahadir Kaleagasi said in an interview with Sputnik Turkey.
“Calls to slaughter Dutch cows and demonstrative cutting of oranges during street marches are giving Turkey a bad name in the world,” Kaleagasi said, adding that the same things were being done by right-wing demonstrators in the Netherlands.
He warned that the rising wave of populism and authoritarianism in the world was putting the future of democracy on the line and that technological progress was making it easy to manipulate information and influence the outcome of elections.
“With technology and artificial intellect progressing all the time and amid the security threats posed by mass-scale migration, any further continuation of the crisis between Turkey and the EU would [undermine global stability],” he warned.
He added that in politics mutual blunders and crises in relations happen all the time.
“The bottom line is for us to minimize the damage caused by this. We need to sort out existing differences and try to add a new, better dimension to our relations. I hope that Turkey will be able to do this,” Bahadir Kaleagasi concluded.
Erdogan and his supporters have staged rallies at home and abroad in a bid to convince voters to back proposed amendments to the constitution designed to grant sweeping powers to the presidency.
Several European countries cancelled some of these events or prevented Turkish officials from taking part in them, much to Ankara's discontent.
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