Photo credit: Credit: Youtube Straits Times and Twitter @supersteak

Social media users in The Netherlands were quick to point out that Turkish President Erdogan was partly to blame himself for allowing a German painter to portray him with a “banana in his ass” (see our earlier coverage) given that he himself launched a ‘Banana Republic’ comment back in 2017 when there was another row with a western European nation during which Mr Erdogan counted on his Turkish diaspora to ‘settle matters on his behalf‘.

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Vx1lAr1bQDs" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Back then, Mr Erdogan was quite upset that one of his ministers was not allowed to speak on his government’s behalf in the Netherlands to get them to vote in a Turkish referendum (The Netherlands, just like Germany, has a large Turkish immigrant population) so he could get more powers in Turkey.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Turkey Furious At German Museum Depicting Erdogan With Banana In Ass<br> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Maga?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Maga</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/QAnon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#QAnon</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/News?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#News</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Trump?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Trump</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GOP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GOP</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SeanMiller?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SeanMiller</a> <a href="https://t.co/QXiSmGNMCY">https://t.co/QXiSmGNMCY</a></p>— The Goldwater (@TheGoldWaterUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheGoldWaterUS/status/967322187790041088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2018</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

After the Dutch Prime Minister had refused entry to Mr Erdogan’s minister there were widespread protests in the cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam by the Turkish diaspora.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The famous "Banana" of Thomas Baumgärtel is changing places time to time. Its recent place is <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/terrorist?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#terrorist</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/erdogan?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#erdogan</a>'s ass <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThomasBaumg%C3%A4rtel?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ThomasBaumgärtel</a> decries positions with his famous 🍌 <a href="https://t.co/V0218ePEIg">pic.twitter.com/V0218ePEIg</a></p>— Qendil Rojhelat (@KurdistanQendil) <a href="https://twitter.com/KurdistanQendil/status/967830074706808832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2018</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mr Erdogan, and with him the whole Turkish government, was furious and said that the Netherlands was nothing short of a ‘Banana Republic’.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Turkey-Germany Row: Erdogan’s “Banana In Ass” Painting Sold For $7,500<br> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Maga?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Maga</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/QAnon?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#QAnon</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/USA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#USA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/News?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#News</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Trump?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Trump</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GOP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GOP</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ObamaGate?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ObamaGate</a> <a href="https://t.co/95Eu1PzIqK">https://t.co/95Eu1PzIqK</a></p>— The Goldwater (@TheGoldWaterUS) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheGoldWaterUS/status/967737927747878912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 25, 2018</a></blockquote>

<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Blaming all Western European countries of colluding against him, Mr Erdogan stated: “Has Europe said anything? No. Why? Because they don’t bite each other. The Netherlands are acting like a banana republic.”

And so one year later Mr Erdogan gets upset because someone paints him with a banana in his ass. We wonder why?

Source:

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/erdogan-says-netherlands-acting-like-a-banana-republic