Dutch authorities treated me harshly: Turkish minister

By Humeyra Atilgan Buyukovali

ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkey's minister of family and social policies has said she suffered "harsh and rude treatment" at the hands of Dutch authorities when she was blocked from entering the Turkish consulate in the Netherlands' Rotterdam city late Saturday night.

Speaking to reporters after her plane landed at Istanbul Ataturk Airport from Germany's Cologne-Bonn airport, Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya described how she was escorted to Germany by Dutch police after she tried to reach the Turkish consulate and meet Turks gathered there in Rotterdam.

Kaya said even the Turkish consul was not allowed to meet her outside the consulate.

"I went there to meet our electorates. I went to meet them at our consulate which is part of our homeland, and we do not need to get permission for that," she said.

She said she was taken to Germany via the Nijmegen border as "democratic and humanitarian values were trampled underfoot.

"We received an inhumane and unethical treatment," the minister said.

"We were treated harshly and rudely. The European attitude towards a female minister three days after the International Women's Day is a tragicomedy."

All this happened as Europe repeatedly spoke about human rights and freedoms, Kaya said.

"We were not allowed to meet our basic needs. Freedoms of movement, expression, meeting were all held in abeyance," she said.

Five members of her security detail were also detained late Saturday, she added.

The minister strongly condemned the treatment meted out to her by Dutch authorities and urged the international community to also condemn it.

Accompanying Kaya at the airport was Energy Minister Berat Albayrak who said it was "a night of shame for the Netherlands”.

He said it was "quite alarming" that most of his European colleagues avoided making a public statement to condemn the incident.