Danish Prime Minister Asks Turkish Counterpart to Postpone Planned Visit

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen proposed on Sunday to postpone Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim’s planned visit to Denmark this month in light of a diplomatic row between Turkey and the Netherlands.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Saturday, the Dutch authorities barred the Turkish foreign minister from landing, ahead of his planned Turkish expat rally at the embassy prior to the referendum on the constitutional changes. On the same day, the Turkish family and social affairs minister was denied entry to the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam and then deported to Germany. Both the Dutch and German authorities have called off the family minister's campaign meetings.

“With the current rhetorical attacks by Turkey against the Netherlands, a new meeting cannot be seen isolated from that. I have therefore suggested to my Turkish colleague that our meeting is postponed,” Rasmussen wrote on his Facebook account.

He added that current rhetorical attacks by the Turkish authorities against the Netherlands meant that the meeting “would be interpreted as if Denmark is viewing developments in Turkey more mildly which is not at all the case.”

According to Danish media reports, Yıldırım was expected to visit Denmark on March 20.

Following the incident, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened the Netherlands with reciprocal actions, while the Turkish Foreign Ministry said that the return of the Dutch ambassador, who is currently on holiday outside the country, was undesirable.