Dutch right wing politician Geert Wilders wants the Netherlands to cancel plans to celebrate 400 years of relations with Turkey. He says Turkish president Abdullah Gül is not welcome here on a state visit this week. But Mr Wilders' arguments are an insult to adult intelligence, says Radio Netherlands senior editor Robert Chesal.
Mr Wilders' argument is that the current regime led by Prime Minister Erdogan is destroying the secular Turkish state and re-islamising the country. Wilders argues that 'Islamic Turkey' does not fit into Europe's liberal, democratic community of values. His reason? That Islam is fundamentally intolerant of Judaism, Christianity and humanism.
Mr Wilders speaks as if there is only one Islam, one Turkey, one Europe. But the reality, fortunately, is far more complex. Islam has its militant and, yes, dangerous factions. But it has its thinkers, democrats and voices of peace too. Likewise, Turkey has very serious downsides: the jailing of many critical journalists, the repression of minorities, the denial of the Armenian genocide.
But Turkey also produced the progressive vision of Kemal Atatürk and a pragmatism that made it a strategic ally of the West and a military-diplomatic partner of Israel for many years. And let's not forget, it's a country that is willing to overlook Mr Wilders' influence in the Hague and continue to do business with us, the Dutch. Turkey, like the Netherlands, is a trading nation.
Note EU-Digest: After 400 years of friendly relations between Turkey and the Netherlands, Geert Wilders certainly won't be able to make a dent in that relationship, instead it made more clear than ever how far off base Wilders from reality.
For more: Geert Wilders shortsighted on Turkey | Radio Netherlands Worldwide
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