Political Tension Between Turkey & Holland

Political tensions are high worldwide as North Korea clashes with Japan and South Korea clashes with China, and U.S. President Trump clashes with Mexico…and many other politicians both inside and outside his own government. But in the past week all eyes have shifted to the Netherlands and Turkey, whose tenuous relationship just got more heated after Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte moved to prevent Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu’s plane from landing in the Netherlands.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded by threatening to respond by banning any Dutch diplomatic flights into Turkey. “They neither know politics nor international diplomacy […] These are the remains of Nazis, they are fascists,” Erdogan commented. Cavusoglu added that “If the Netherlands cancels my flight, we will impose severe sanctions on them that will affect it economically and politically.” Germany has also cancelled trips from Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, leaving political hawks to question when and how strongly the country will respond to being shunned.