Turkey investigating Wilders over "terrorist" Erdogan tweet

The Public Prosecutor in Ankara launched an investigation into far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders due to a tweet the PVV leader posted on Monday, Turkish state news agency Anadolu reported on Tuesday.

The investigation revolves around a tweet by Wilders featuring an illustration of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan with the caption "terrorist". In another tweet, Wilders called the Turkish president a "perilous Islamist who incites hatred and terror here in the Netherlands as well."

Terrorist. pic.twitter.com/ZL8ZD519aW

— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) February 15, 2021

The tweets followed an analysis leaked from the Netherlands' counter-terrorism agency NCTV which showed that the agency was investigating whether Erdogan's politics rhetoric may have an influence on the Dutch-Turkish community in the Netherlands. After the leak, the NCTV stressed that the analysis was at a very early stage and still immature.

Wilders demanded that the analysis be sent to parliament immediately and called for a debate on the matter as soon as possible, NOS reports. Parliamentarians from VVD, D66, PvdA, SP and GroenLinks also asked for an explanation.

Justice Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus called it "an incomplete analysis, which is also criticized". He therefore does not think it makes sense to already release it to parliament, calling it more sensible to wait for the final report. "This is a very preliminary piece, but most of the things in it are also reflected in previous threat images from the NCTV," he said.