海角大神

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdo臒an denounced the Dutch government on Saturday as聽鈥淣azi remnants and fascists鈥� after it barred his foreign minister from landing in Rotterdam to campaign among Turkish immigrants there, in an unusual eruption of diplomatic antipathies between the NATO allies.

鈥淚 sent them so they could contribute to your economy,鈥澛爁oreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told CNN Turk TV, in reference to the roughly 400,000 Turks living in the Netherlands. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e not your captives."

A pro-Erdo臒an rally where Mr. Cavusoglu was scheduled to speak was cancelled, citing security concerns. But he insisted on boarding the plane despite warnings by the Dutch that he would not be allowed entry.聽

鈥淚f my going will increase tensions, let it be 鈥� I am a foreign minister and I can go wherever I want,鈥� he said in a pre-flight interview.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called Mr. Erdo臒an's comment 鈥渨ay out of line.鈥澛�

鈥淚t鈥檚 a crazy remark, of course,鈥� he said, according to the BBC.

The spat comes during an election season which looks poised to shape the future direction of both countries: the center-right Dutch government is trying to stave off a challenge from far-right candidate Geert Wilders, and Erdo臒an聽is pushing a referendum that would reconstitute Turkey鈥檚 political system to place significantly more power in the prime minister鈥檚 lap.聽

The high electoral stakes raise questions as to whether the disagreement reflects a true shift in the shape of Netherlands-Turkey ties or simple political posturing.聽

As 海角大神鈥檚 Scott Peterson reported in February, Erdo臒an聽has turned Turkey away from the secular legacy of the country鈥檚 founder 鈥� and away from the European Union, a bloc it once seemed on the verge of joining 鈥� in favor of an Islamic nationalism that has taken a more pronounced authoritarian tone following a July coup attempt:

And with the referendum set for April, many see the timing of the diplomatic row with the Netherlands as anything but coincidental.聽聽

Erdo臒an聽has already cited domestic threats from Kurdish and Islamist militants and the attempted coup to justify his efforts to consolidate power. This dispute with the Netherlands lets him argue that NATO allies can't be trusted, even as Turkey faces threats on its southern borders 鈥� all the more reason the Turkish people should support him.

Those arguments have spilled over into Turkish communities in places like the Netherlands, Germany, and Austria, which in February banned Erdo臒an聽from holding rallies there.

鈥淚 have never seen such deep divisions as we鈥檙e experiencing now,鈥� Gokay Sofuoglu, head of the Turkish community in Germany, told the Financial Times. 鈥淐ritics of Erdo臒an聽and his supporters used to be able to talk to each other calmly, but that鈥檚 over.鈥�

With general elections just days away, the Netherlands could be on the verge of a swing toward cultural nationalism as well: anti-Islam candidate Geert Wilders has fallen narrowly behind in polls to the current prime minister, after leading consistently for months.

And on Saturday, Mr. Wilders gave his Freedom Party (PVV) credit for pressuring the government into the decision to bar entry to the Turkish foreign minister.聽

"Great! Thanks to heavy PVV- pressure a few days before the Dutch elections our government did NOT allow the Turkish minister to land here!!," he wrote in a Twitter post.

"I am tell all Turks in the Netherlands that agree with Erdo臒an: GO to Turkey and NEVER come back!!,鈥� he later added.

Material from Reuters and the Associated Press was used in this report.