The ugly, unseemly dispute between Turkey and Netherlands shows no sign of abating.
Riding the current wave of pre-election populism, leaders on both sides are resorting to excessive statements and actions.
Undiplomatic moves and tit-for-tat attitudes, further exacerbating the crisis, have already given plenty to worry about; but it is the vitriol directed, not at governments, but peoples of the two countries, that I find particularly alarming.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has a track record of using a fierce language directed at his opponents.
He also has a penchant for undiplomatic outbursts.
After the dramatic collapse of relations with Russia in November 2015, the Turkish President blasted Mr. Putin and his government.
The damage caused by his harsh words, directed at Israel’s leaders, took years to mend.
However, none of these well- publicised spats with governments, were uttered as insults against the peoples of those countries. On the contrary, even at the midst of the deepest crisis, warm and friendly sentiments towards the nations in question were expressed time and time again.
Yet, this time, having already insulted Netherlands by labelling the country “fascist and a Nazi remnant”, Mr Erdogan has turned his ire towards the Dutch nation.
Speaking in Ankara and criticising the Dutch government for not allowing the Turkish Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya to campaign in Rotterdam, he said that he already knew “the corrupt morality of the Dutch”, invoking the Srebrenica massacre of July 1995.
“We know the Netherlands and the Dutch from Srebrenica. We know how rotten their character is from their massacre of 8,000 Bosnians there,” Mr. Erdogan added.
Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister’s response was quick. “Erdogan had hit a new low”, he said rejecting the Turkish President’s comments as “a disgusting falsifying of history’.
Similar insults, directed at Turkish people in Netherlands, are frequently used by the Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders of the Freedom Party.
Renowned for his rabid anti-Islam rhetoric, he is a populist provocateur, not the country’s leader.
At least, not yet.
If this war of words does not come to an end soon, Turkey’s European and international relations will hit an all-time low.
Most probably, both Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Wilders will increase their chances of success at their respective ballot boxes.
With strong bilateral commercial ties, governments of Turkey and Netherlands will eventually kiss and make up, just like Turkey and Russia and Turkey and Israel did before.
Healing the wounds opened in their societies, people-to-people relations, will not be that easy.
Rows between governments and diplomatic breakdowns can, ultimately, be resolved; badly damaged relationship can be repaired; but animosity and bad blood between nations can stretch over generations.
Already weighed down with its historical baggage, Turkey should know better.
This post is also available in: Turkish
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