Wilders Urges Dutch PM To Cancel Erdogan's Upcoming Visit

The leader of Holland's anti-Islamic Party for Freedom (PVV), Geert Wilders, has urged Dutch authorities to call off Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's upcoming visit to the country.

Wilders, known for his extremely negative views on Islam and Muslims, described Erdogan as anti-homosexual, anti-Zionist, anti-Christian and anti-Kurd and called on Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, to cancel the Turkish prime minister's visit scheduled for next Thursday.

Another issue that came up ahead of Erdogan's visit was about a Turkish boy, identified only by his first name "Yunus," who was placed in the care of a lesbian couple in the Netherlands when he was a baby. The issue recently drew ire from Turkish officials, who accused the Dutch administration of not respecting the values and sensitivities held dear by Turkish families.

Yunus' biological mother, Nurgül Azeroglu, had said during a televised interview earlier this month that she was scheduled to ask for help from Erdogan before he leaves for Holland.

In response to reactions from Turkey, Lodewijk Asscher, the Dutch deputy prime minister, told reporters last Friday that the issue is an internal Dutch matter and that political interference from Turkey is "inappropriate."

"I find it presumptuous of a foreign power, whoever it might be, to have such a viewpoint, based on the views or religion of the adoptive parents," Asscher told journalists.

"Selection is not done based on race or religion. It doesn't fit the Netherlands and the values we have," Asscher also added. He also said Rutte would discuss the issue with his Turkish counterpart during Erdogan's one-day official visit to the country.

In the midst of the exchange of criticism between Turkish and Dutch officials, Dutch media recently reported that the lesbian family has gone into hiding after the boy's biological parents said on a Turkish television program that they objected to a lesbian couple taking care of their child.

Mark Verheijen, a member of the Dutch parliament, also commented on reactions from Ankara to the issue, saying some countries want Turkey's EU accession talks to gather speed, but for the Netherlands, Turkey's objection to adoptive parents complicated the process. "Some countries want Turkey's accession process to be taken out of the deep freezer, but for us that freezer has just gotten colder," he was heard as saying by the Turkish media on Sunday.

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