CE says Turkey moving away from Europe

European leaders yesterday criticised Turkey for having described Holland and Germany as being “nazis”.

The crisis erupted after a number of central European countries prohibited planned meetings organised by the government in Ankara to ask for the vote of immigrants in the referendum to be held in April in Turkey, by which President Erdogan aims to extend its power.

The city of Rotterdam in Holland banned a rally over the weekend for fear that internal tensions in Turkey could spread through its Turkish community. “Rotterdam. Which was completely destroyed by the Nazis and whose mayor was born in Morocco. If anyone sees fascism in such a city, then he or she is completely disconnected from reality,” said the EC president, Donald Tusk. “This is totally unacceptable,” added Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the Commission, who warned that insults such as these could further distance Ankara's aim to join the EU.

These responses coincided with more attacks on several institutional and personal accounts in Twitter messages that have strained relations between Berlin, The Hague and Erdogan.

A number of public institutions, companies and NGOs have reported hacking attempts from Turkish sources on their Twitter accounts.