So Daily Sabah is doing the right thing


A Dutch member of the European Parliament is now campaigning to stop issues of Daily Sabah from entering the house simply because the newspaper published in English managed to portray the ugly naked truths that are dominating the political scene in the Netherlands.

So what unforgivable crime did Daily Sabah commit to anger the Dutch and create this call to be barred from the European Parliament? The newspaper simply reported what happened on the night of March 11 when the Dutch authorities prevented Family and Social Policies Minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya from entering the Turkish Consulate in Rotterdam to address the Turkish people assembled outside the building, detained her and then expelled her from the Netherlands and then sent their mounted police and dogs against a peaceful crowd. The Dutch police attacked civilian Turks and journalists and hurt several people.

Daily Sabah reported all this and the fact that it is in English and the fact that it was read widely in the European Parliament prevented the Dutch from creating a cover up. The Dutch were caught red handed.

Besides all this, Daily Sabah also revealed the command and work structure of the Fetullah Gülen gang in the Netherlands and how the Dutch authorities tolerated this clandestine organization.

So the Dutch are furious. They have every reason to be because this is the psychological state of anyone caught red-handed while committing a crime. Some Dutch diplomats in Ankara are pretending nothing actually happened on the night of March 11, that they did not detain and arrest a Turkish cabinet minister that night, that they did not close their airspace to Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu the same day, that they did not unleash their dogs and mounted police on peaceful protesters and that they did not attack Turkish journalists trying to cover the events. But they did and what they did has been shown in all its ugliness.

The myth that the Dutch authorities have deep respect for freedom of expression, for rights and liberties have gone up in smoke.

They have openly sided with those who oppose the constitutional change in Turkey that will be voted in a referendum by the Turkish people on April 16. They want the people of Turkey to vote against the changes that will lead to the switch to a presidential system and they have banned anyone trying to launch a campaign in favor of the changes. Is this how you help freedom of expression to prevail? Isn't this also a gross violation that amounts to interference in the highest degree in our internal affairs?

The fact that Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf has attacked Daily Sabah and accused it of spreading hate for exposing the activities of the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) in the Netherlands is rather shocking. This is the gang that tried to stage the bloody coup in Turkey on July 15 and failed. Or is the newspaper among the international media groups that receive donations from FETÖ?

Banning the newspaper and trying to silence TV presenters is a futile attempt to hide the truth in a world where social media is well established. We have social media where we can display facts and the truth. You only have to ask President Donald Trump how he got his facts across to the people and you have the answer.

The more the Dutch try to forget the mess they created, the more they try to make amends, the more they are being sucked into the mud.