Turkey says prime minister´s passport comment ‘unfortunate’

Prime minister Mark Rutte´s comments about Turkish passports are ‘unfortunate’ and ‘discriminatory’, a Turkish government minister is quoted as saying in the Volkskrant on Friday.


During Wednesday’s debate on the new government, Rutte said there is a difference between having dual nationality with a Swedish and a Turkish passport.
He was responding to questions about his acceptance of a junior minister’s Dutch Swedish dual nationality, compared to his opposition to a Dutch Turkish junior minister in the previous government.
Employment and social security minister Faruk Celik is quoted as saying that he ´fails to see how such a discriminatory comment will contribute to the integration of foreigners in the Netherlands´.
The minister, who visited Turkish institutions in the Netherlands last weekend, is concerned at the ´growing xenophobia and Islamophobia in the Netherlands´, the paper said.

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