President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that some EU countries could not tolerate Turkey's rise as an emerging power, and accused them of working against the "Yes" vote in Turkey's April 16 constitutional referendum, APA reports quoting Anadolu Agency.
"A part of the European Union countries, unfortunately, cannot tolerate the rise of Turkey, and Germany is right at the top [of the list]. Germany relentlessly supports terrorism," Erdogan said during an interview aired live on local A Haber and ATV networks.
The president lashed out at German Chancellor Angela Merkel who said earlier Monday that the Netherlands had her "full support and solidarity" in the Turkish-Dutch row.
"Merkel! Shame on you! Stand by the Netherlands as you like. You are supporting terrorists," Erdogan said, adding that Turkey had sent Germany 4,500 files on terrorists, but Germany did nothing about it.
His remarks came amid an ongoing standoff between Turkey and the Netherlands after the Dutch government banned planned rallies of Turkish ministers ahead of the referendum.
On Saturday, the Dutch government first cancelled the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu's flight permit to the Netherlands and then blocked a convoy carrying Family Minister Fatma Betul Sayan Kaya and forced her to leave the country under police escort.
Two weeks ago, Turkish government ministers were also barred from holding public rallies in two German cities.
Erdogan said he would not be content with only a simple apology from the Netherlands on this issue.
"They will pay the price for this sooner or later," he said, adding the Dutch government would be called to account for the recent events.
Erdogan accused Germany and the Netherlands of ignoring the Vienna Convention, and of being fascist and employing Nazi practices.
"We can call it Neo-Nazism. That's their understanding of the Vienna Convention," Erdogan said.
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