Turkish FM slams Netherlands over rally ban

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu Saturday criticized the Dutch authorities over banning his rally scheduled for next week, state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Cavusoglu reportedly planned to attend the March 11 rally in Netherlands' city of Rotterdam, hoping to campaign Netherlands' hundreds of thousands of dual citizens to vote for constitutional referendum.

"No one can prevent us. We can go anywhere we want, we can meet our citizens and hold our meetings," Cavusoglu said during a meeting in southern province of Antalya.

The Dutch government said it opposed plans by Turkish authorities to hold a referendum campaign rally in Rotterdam, saying it would inform Ankara of its opposition to the "undesirable" move.

"The Netherlands is not a place for other countries' election rallies," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on his Facebook on Friday. "We will not cooperate with this. We find this undesirable."

"We believe that the Dutch public space is not the place for political campaigns of other countries," he added.

The move came after two German cities cancelled similar scheduled events with Turkish officials this week.

The municipality of Gaggenau in southwest Germany on Thursday revoked its permission for Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag's meeting due to security concerns and incapacity problems.

Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci's planned address on March 5 to a Turkish community in Cologne was also cancelled by local authorities over security concerns.

Several Turkish officials as well as opposition parties are planning meetings abroad with Turkish expats this month, ahead of a referendum on April 16.

Turkey called the moves "undemocratic" and accused European countries of permitting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rally, while blocking Turkish government's valid campaigning activities. Endit