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[Bralbaard]

Yes, and he has to appoint ministers for that obviously, but they are not really known for their personal oppinions. The PVV clearly states their party has only one member, Wilders. He tries to keep his party small and manageable. The last elections on a local level the PVV only participated in two municipalities out of about 350 for that reason. Keeps the amount of scandals low.

The populist party for the common man, until they want to actually participate.

[martinuzz]

Doesn't the PVV already have like 20 seats in Dutch Parliament though?

15

[Sergarr]

"Netherlands is capital of fascism", according to Turkey's foreign minister. A rather unorthodox statement, to say the least.

[Antioch]

"Netherlands is capital of fascism", according to Turkey's foreign minister. A rather unorthodox statement, to say the least.

A rather peculiar statement coming from a government that:

1. Fired tens of thousands of judges, journalists, teachers and police officers for there (alleged) political affiliations.
2. cancels the parliaments immunity so it can persecute opposition leaders
3. Closes or takes over several newspapers due to their criticism on the government.
4. Arrests hundreds of people for "insulting the president" including gems like this: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkish-newspapers-cook-arrested-insulting-erdogan-952785857
5. Cites Nazi germany as a good example of an effective presidential system
6. Tries to consolidate all power in the hands of its great leader through a referendum

[Sheb]

Campaign donations of considerable size are frowned upon no matter the source or party in Dutch elections.
The system is quite different from the USA.

Some parties have a system where their politicians agree to turn in a -sometimes very considerable- part of their wage ( like the SP, they are by far the richest party) or have other systems were members pay some form of contribution. There are goverment subsidies too. Total campaign spending in the previous elections was aparently 10.7 million for all parties combined (we have quite a few).

Can't find much about the PVV but Wilders makes it a point not to accept any members to his party exept for himself, because, ehm because you can't trust anyone but yourself. That, and sharing power is difficult too. That means that he is completely dependent on outside donations. His finances are likely not that different in size from other parties, but it's hard to find anything specific.

In Belgium that's actually by law how it works: parties are funded by the state, member contribution and from a cut of their elected official's salaries. Campaigns are funded by the parties, the state and private candidate (although some parties like the Green, ban their candidates from spending on their campaign). Outside donation would certainly be illegal.

[Sergarr]

"Netherlands is capital of fascism", according to Turkey's foreign minister. A rather unorthodox statement, to say the least.

A rather peculiar statement coming from a government that:

1. Fired tens of thousands of judges, journalists, teachers and police officers for there (alleged) political affiliations.
2. cancels the parliaments immunity so it can persecute opposition leaders
3. Closes or takes over several newspapers due to their criticism on the government.
4. Arrests hundreds of people for "insulting the president" including gems like this: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkish-newspapers-cook-arrested-insulting-erdogan-952785857
5. Cites Nazi germany as a good example of an effective presidential system
6. Tries to consolidate all power in the hands of its great leader through a referendum

Yeah, they're pretty hypocritic, in a very stupidly blatant way.

Anyway, they've effectively severed diplomatic relationships with Netherlands. I dunno what to say, really.

[Sheb]

Well, creating drama to drum up votes for his referendum. Seems quite effective.

[Sheb]

A nice piece about the absolute mess that was (and is) the response to the refugees influx in Greece.

[martinuzz]

The dumbfuck Erdogan has said in a live TV broadcast that "we already knew the rotten character of the Netherlands, back from when they were responsible for the death of thousands of muslims in Srebrenica in 1995".

That will rub a lot of traumatized Dutchbat veterans the wrong way.

There are some rumours that the Netherlands is considering suspending the association treaty between Turkey and the EU, although our prime minister has said that's not on the table.

[Antioch]

Erdogan strikes again!

accuses the Netherlands of killing 8000 Bosnians during the fall of Srebrenica.

And advices giving himself more power in the upcoming election.



http://nos.nl/artikel/2163086-erdogan-geeft-stemadvies-en-beschuldigt-nederland-van-massamoord.html

[Antioch]

Dutch Prime minister responds by calling it "a blatant falsification of history" (which it is)

Found this nice image mocking Turkeys referendum:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[smjjames]

Almost seems like Erdogan is asking to be kicked out of NATO over such sheneinighans, which are unprecedented as far as I know.

And yeah, I can easily see him immediately dismissing the parliament and instituting a permanent 'state of emergency'.

Turkey is now complaing to the UN that Dutch behavior violates something about the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The Dutch keep trying to de-escalate while the Turks are intentionally escalating it and could stop at any time they wished to.

edit: I tried looking at the Turkish paper link on that article (which is in english) and apparently the Turkish parliament is deciding on non-economic sanctions at the Dutch and also barring Dutch flights from landing or something.

Where even are they going with this? What's the endgame? They are certainly burning whatever bridges that they have left. NATO and EU officials have also called for restraint from both sides, but as far as I can tell, the Dutch are trying to be restrained while the Turks keep escalating,

[Azzuro]

Erdogan has gone Maximum CKII once the coup attempt last year failed.

Seriously, it's to distract the Turkish public from the increasingly shitty situation at home I guess. The Dutch (and the rest of Europe) have made quite a bit of noise over Turkey's backward slide into dictatorship again, so the Turkish government has to discredit them in some way to prevent such views from gaining much traction domestically. Kind of like an ad hominem attack, except between governments.

BTW, I don't think Erdogan is afraid of Russia or views them as a threat, so that could be why he's not too worried over being kicked out of NATO - he can use that to drum up more anger against the West, while it doesn't really affect Turkey much (in his view).

[Bralbaard]

I don't know if Erdogan is doing this for his support at home. Having a different political opinion in Turkey is enough to get you fired or worse, and that alone will likely have him win the referendum. Besides that, he seems to be quite popular in Turkey regardless of what he does, he doesn't need to throw his daily tantrum against the Dutch for that.

He's likely doing it to destabilise Europe further. If the populists win in tomorrow's Dutch election it will be another blow for a unified Europe, and this whole mess is definitely pushing a lot of voters towards voting for anti-immigration parties.
The over the top accussations might just be bait. If another country bites and expells diplomats he might well take the opportunity to open te gates to Europe for fugitives again, or he might stop checking for Isis fighters. More fugitives will be perfect fuel for the populists. There are quite a few important elections in Europe this year, and the outcome will have a big influence on Erdogan's own ambitions and influence. A unified Europe is not in his interests.

[Pwnzerfaust]

Fun moment from the evening's debate in the Netherlands: Geert Wilders calls Mohammed a pedophile on live TV. Amazing, to be honest. If I were Dutch, I would definitely vote for his party.