Monday, 18 July 2016 - 08:20
Dutch-Turks threatened for not supporting Erdogan: Report
Turkish-Dutch are facing death threats, vandalism and boycotts for not supporting Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Telegraaf reports. Erdogan supporters in the Netherlands are targeting supporters of Fethullah Gulen, because Erdogan believes he was behind an attempted coup in Turkey last week, according to the newspaper.
Cultural centers in Rotterdam and Zaanstad had their windows broken over the weekend. In Amsterdam lists are circulating with names of Turkish entrepreneurs who should be boycotted because they are critical of Erdogan. And on social media there are photos with calls from Erdogan to make Gulen supporters shorter by about a head, according to the Telegraaf.
"It's very frightening", Ahmet Taskan, co-founder of Turkish entrepreneur's association HOGIAF, said to the newspaper. He hopes that the Dutch government intervenes and denounces interference from Turkey. "I as Dutch citizen suffer from it. It has to stop."