The war of words between Turkey and western Europe escalated further on Thursday with Ankara threatening to ditch the agreement to take in migrants bound for the European Union.
In ever angrier declarations, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan also told the newly-re-elected Dutch prime minister he had lost Ankara as a friend while Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused Dutch liberals of being no better than fascists.
Turkey and Europe have been locked in a diplomatic spat after The Netherlands and Germany blocked Turkish ministers from holding rallies to secure a ‘yes’ vote in next month’s referendum on expanding Mr Erdogan’s powers.
While much of Europe congratulated Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte on his election victory and hailed his defeat of the far-right Geert Wilders as a rejection of xenophobia, the Turkish leadership were dismissive.
"You look at the social democrats and the fascist Wilders, there is no difference, they have the same mentality," Mr Cavusoglu said. And he warned Europe it was heading for a new religious war. "Where are you going, where are you taking Europe?" he asked. "You have begun to disintegrate Europe and take Europe to the cliff. Soon religious wars will begin in Europe."

Source: The National