AKIPRESS.COM - Turkey will not allow the Dutch ambassador to Ankara to return to Turkey and has suspended high-level diplomatic relations between the two countries, deputy Turkish Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus announced in Ankara on Monday as a disagreement between the two countries escalated, reports CNN.
Turkey's action came after the Netherlands' refusal to allow Turkey's foreign minister to visit for a political rally over the weekend.
That minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, is demanding answers from the Dutch government over why they blocked him.
"Why this time am I a terrorist? Are the Turks living in this country terrorists?" Cavusoglu asked in an interview Monday with CNN's "Connect the World."
The decision to refuse Cavusoglu permission to fly to Rotterdam to address the rally over the weekend was followed by a refusal by the Dutch to let the Turkish family affairs minister, Fatma Betul Sayan Kayafrom, enter the Turkish consulate in the city.
She was escorted out of the country.
Violent clashes in Rotterdam followed the decision to halt the two ministers from addressing the rallies.