Turkey recalls spying mosque leader from Netherlands

Turkey recalled the leader of Turkish-Dutch mosque dome Diyanet from the Netherlands, Minister Bert Koenders of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday. Yusuf Acar is accused of keeping a list of Gulen supporters in the Netherlands and passing it on to the Turkish government.

Koenders met with the respresentative of the Turkish government last week and made it clear that the Netherlands considers that a line was crossed and that these actions could not remain without consequences.The government called it an "unwanted and non-acceptable interference in the lives of Dutch citizens".

According to the Minister, the conversation resulted in the Turkisha authorities agreeing to recall Acar. He is no longer in the country.

Last week Acar told the Telegraaf that he kpet a list of names of people who sympathize with Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen is seen as the rival of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish government believes Gulen was behind an attempted coup in the country in July.