Turkish Family Minister Flies Back to Turkey After Netherlands Deportation

ANKARA (Sputnik) — On Saturday, Kaya was denied entrance to the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam after a visit to Germany, with Dutch police blocking her car. She was then deported to Germany. Both the Dutch and German authorities had called off Kaya's campaign meetings which were to come ahead of a Turkish referendum on constitutional changes.

The minister has boarded a private jet provided by Youth and Sports Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic, who had visited several events in Germany, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Kaya decided to travel to the Netherlands after the Dutch authorities refused to let Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu land over security concerns. The foreign minister had also planned to hold a Turkish expat rally at the Turkish embassy in the run up to the constitutional referendum. The incident followed rally bans in several other European countries.

The incident prompted Turkish protests near the Rotterdam consulate. Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim threatened "harsh" retaliation measures, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had promised to retaliate for the incident with Cavusoglu.

Ankara has been seeking support from Turkish expats for a constitutional change that would increase the president's powers. Despite the Turkish leadership's efforts a number of pre-voting rallies were canceled in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland.