Turkish president calls the Dutch 'Nazi remnants' and 'fascists' after airplane dispute

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
(Image credit: Ozan Kose/Getty Images)

The Netherlands on Saturday denied landing permission to a plane carrying Turkey's foreign minister as part of a dispute over a canceled political rally. In response, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed the Dutch are "Nazi remnants" and "fascists" who "do not know politics or international diplomacy." "You can stop our foreign minister's plane all you want," he said, "let's see how your planes will come to Turkey from now on."

"It is a crazy remark, of course," replied Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. "I understand they are angry but this is of course way out of line."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.