Dutch Publish Travel Warning After Erdogan Threat

AMSTERDAM - The Netherlands has warned its citizens over travel to Turkey as a row between the countries shows no sign of abating. Turkish attempts to hold rallies in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands have been blocked.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed retaliation, saying: "Nazism is still widespread in the West". German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the comments as unacceptable and offered the Netherlands her "full support and solidarity".

On Monday, the Dutch foreign ministry issued a new travel warning, urging its citizens in Turkey to take care and noting the new "diplomatic tensions". The warning to "avoid gatherings and crowded places" came as Turkey's foreign ministry lodged a formal protest with the Dutch envoy.

Meanwhile, the Dutch deputy prime minister, Lodewijk Asscher, said that "to be called Nazis by a regime which is walking backwards in regards to human rights is just disgusting".

The row spilled over into the campaign for Wednesday's general election in the Netherlands, with Prime Minister (PM) Mark Rutte defending in a live TV debate his decision to stop Turkish ministers addressing Dutch Turks.

His opponent, Geert Wilders of the far-right, anti-Islam Freedom Party, said the real problem was that Turks waving Turkish flags on a Dutch street had shown where their loyalties lay. European Union leaders called for calm.

"It is essential to avoid further escalation and find ways to calm down the situation," said a joint statement by foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn.

BBC in Istanbul, says that Turkey and the Netherlands, two Nato allies, are now locked in an "unprecedented diplomatic crisis".