Turkey slams Rotterdam mayor for BBQ event near mosque during Ramadan

ANKARA

Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Ömer Çelik on June 6 slammed the Netherlands for granting permission to a group to roast pork in front of a mosque in Rotterdam during iftar (the fast-breaking meal).

“On Thursday, at the time of the breaking of Ramadan fast, members of this fascist organization will hold a barbeque party in front of Rotterdam’s Laleli Mosque of Islamitische Stichting Nederland and they will roast pigs on spits,” Çelik tweeted.

Far-right organization Patriotic Europeans against Islamization of the West (Pegida) previously announced on social media that they will roast pork in front of mosques during this week’s fast breaking hours in the Dutch cities of Rotterdam, Utrecht, Gouda, the Hague and Arnhem.

The Municipality of Rotterdam gave permission to Pegida, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Eating pork is forbidden for Muslims.

Çelik said this is the most immoral attempt ever in the history of hate crimes.

“Granting legal permission to such an immoral activity is also another deficiency of morality,” he added.

“Other municipalities in the Netherlands did not allow Pegida to roast pigs in front of mosques at the fast-breaking time. However, Ahmet Abutalib, Mayor of Rotterdam, who is of Moroccan origin, thinks that this activity of Pegida is not against the law. Such a gross tragedy!” said the EU minister.

Çelik also said Turks and other Muslims in Rotterdam will lay flowers around the mosque and “erect a wall of love with flowers against the odor of hate.”

“Muslims will teach a humanity lesson against this policy of hatred. Thus, they will remind everyone of the respect to mosques, churches and synagogues,” he said.

Relations between the Netherlands and Turkey have gone especially sour after Dutch authorities canceled the flight permit of a plane carrying Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu during last year’s referendum campaign. The Dutch government also expelled Family and Social Affairs Minister Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya from Rotterdam, blocking her from addressing the Turkish community.

For the parliamentary and presidential elections coming up on June 24, Sarajevo became the only campaign stop for the longtime ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as governments in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands said they would not allow rallies for the Turkish elections this time around as well.