Erdogan wanted to hold massive stadium-sized rally in Netherlands: report

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan wanted to visit the Netherlands for a stadium-sized campaign event for a referendum that would give him more power, the Telegraaf reports. Turkish organizations tried to rent the Amsterdam ArenA, the Ziggo Dome or the Gelder Dome for the event, but all refused.

According to the newspaper, Erdogan was only willing to visit the Netherlands if he could arrange a meeting attended by tens of thousands of his supporters. He wanted it to be a "historic" meeting.

But as no suitable location could be found, his visit was canceled. Instead it was decided to send Turkish Ministers to campaign for the referendum. The Netherlands refusal to allow these Ministers access to the country to campaign started an ongoing diplomatic row between the two countries.

The Amsterdam ArenA, the Gelderdome and Ziggo Dome all confirmed to the newspaper that they received multiple applications from Turkish organizations in late February.