"It's good that Turkey and the Netherlands turned the page together and that we have restored relations," said Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok (AFP Photo/Bart MAAT) |
The Hague
(AFP) - The Netherlands and Turkey said Friday they were resuming full
diplomatic ties for the first time since Dutch officials barred two Turkish
ministers from attending an election rally in 2017.
In a joint
statement, the two countries said their foreign ministers met on the sidelines
of last week's NATO summit in Brussels and "agreed to normalise the
diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Turkey.
"To
that extend the ministers agreed to reinstate ambassadors in Ankara and The
Hague shortly," the statement said.
The Hague
withdrew its ambassador to Ankara in February as relations plunged to new lows
in a festering dispute that began when the Netherlands expelled Turkey's Family
Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kayar in March 2017.
The country
also barred another minister's plane from landing as both Turkish politicians
sought to attend a Rotterdam rally of Dutch-Turkish citizens in favour of
Turkey's April 2017 referendum, in which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
narrowly won sweeping new powers.
Anti-riot
police vehicles form a blockade in a sealed off area surrounding the Dutch
embassy in Ankara on March 12, 2017 (AFP Photo/Adem ALTAN)
|
Erdogan at
the time accused the Dutch of behaving like "fascists" in their
treatment of the Turkish ministers -- comments which triggered anger in the
Netherlands, occupied by Nazi Germany in World War II.
The
Netherlands is home to some 400,000 people of Turkish origin, and the two
countries have had diplomatic relations for some four centuries.
"It's
good that Turkey and the Netherlands turned the page together and that we have
restored relations," said Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok.
"The
cooperation between the Netherlands and Turkey is essential on a number of
issues including the fight against the Islamic State group, the risk of
(jihadist) fighters returning from Syria, but also our concerns over the human
rights situation in Turkey."
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