Rotterdam mayor reportedly close to Gülenist figures

Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb allegedly received funding from the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) in the past, and his negative approach toward a Turkish delegation last week was a result of his affiliation with the terrorist group, a Turkish newspaper claimed.

A report published by the Turkish daily Yeni Akit on Friday claims that Aboutaleb has had close relations with the FETÖ network in the Netherlands. According to the daily, Aboutaleb has close contact with the FETÖ-affiliated former head of the Netherlands Young Businessman Association (HOGIAF), Mehmet Kabakyer, and other Gülenists, such as Zeki Baran and Mevlüt Çakı. In addition, Aboutaleb received strong financial backing from the terrorist group in his 2009 campaign. Also, Aboutaleb was brought to Turkey in 2012 where he visited FETÖ-affiliated institutions and nongovernmental organizations.

Gülenist Baran worked as an assemblyman in the Charlois district of Rotterdam, the report added. Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb deployed a heavily armed special forces unit with permission to "shoot in case of need" Saturday, as Turkish protestors gathered around the Turkish consulate after Family Affairs Minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya was barred from entering the consulate building.

The scandal surfaced on Monday as Aboutaleb said that he had deployed heavily armed security officers during a Dutch television program, called Nieuwsuur, which aired on public broadcaster NOS.

"When we first learned that Minister Kaya was heading for the Netherlands by land, we started to look for the minister's convoy on Dutch motorways. We finally spotted her and followed, blocking her way near the consulate," the Moroccan-origin mayor of Rotterdam said.

The row between the two countries escalated after Dutch authorities blocked the family minister's convoy from entering the Turkish consulate in Rotterdam Saturday, following the Dutch government's decision to deny landing permission to a plane carrying the Turkish foreign minister earlier that day.

Turkey's Permanent Mission to the United Nations on Wednesday notified the global body of what it said were violations of international law committed by the Dutch government last weekend. The note, addressed to the UN secretary-general, said diplomatic passports belonging to Minister Kaya and her team were seized by police officers, who intervened to stop a Turkish mission vehicle carrying the minister.

The officers then kept her detained at a police station for 90 minutes, before forcibly driving Kaya to the German border.

The ministers were due to meet Turks living in the Netherlands ahead of the April 16 referendum on the constitutional amendment package.