New Anatolean - The Netherlands: What has happened to EU's (Netherlands) Freedom of expression

Dutch Parliament
For the complete report in the New Anatolian click on this link: The Netherlands : 'What happened to the EU's (Netherlands) principle of freedom of expression?'

A Turkish Foreign Ministry's spokesperson yesterday expressed dismay at the exclusion of three Turkish-origin candidates from the Dutch elections, describing the incident as a "bad precedent" which is contrary to the European Union's fundamental principle of freedom of expression. Stressing that decisions on determining candidates and elections procedures for the Dutch early general elections, set for Nov 22, are an issue of domestic politics and stating views on this issue would be wrong, spokesperson Namik Tan commented on the repercussions of the issue in foreign policy."Ankara is upset that political parties of its friend and ally, the Netherlands, have one-sided views about the Armenian genocide claims which is contrary to freedom of expression," Tan said in a written statement. Three Dutch political candidates from Turkish-origin were removed from the Dutch elections list for not recognizing the Armenian genocide claims, ahead of the early general elections. The removal of the three candidates -- Erdinc Sacan from the Dutch Labour Party (PVDA) and Ayhan Tonca and Osman Elmaci from Christian Democratic Party (CDA) -- is seen by Turkey as the result of the activities of the Armenian lobby in the Netherlands.

Note EU-Digest: The decision by the Dutch Labour Party and the Christian Democratic Party, which was probably also initiated to counter a strong right-wing anti-immigrant lobby in the Netherlands and Europe, is not justified. The so-called Armenian genocide claims are still open to debate and strongly influenced by a one-sided and powerful Armenian lobby, who constantly deny to participate in any international forum on the issue. It is amazing that the Netherlands allows a pedophile political party to operate in the political system but punishes two of its own political candidates for expressing their position on the Armenian genocide claims.