'Holy wars will soon begin in Europe'

A Turkish minister has claimed "holy wars will soon begin" in Europe, in spite of the defeat of far-right leader Geert Wilders in the Netherlands elections.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey's foreign minister, did not welcome the victory for Prime Minister Mark Rutte's centre-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).

“Now the election is over in the Netherlands...when you look at the many parties you see there is no difference between the social democrats and fascist Wilders,” he said according to a translation by Hurriyet.

“All have the same mentality. Where will you go? Where are you taking Europe? You have begun to collapse Europe. You are dragging Europe into the abyss. Holy wars will soon begin in Europe.”

Wilders attempted to capitalise on an ongoing diplomatic row between the Netherlands and Turkey during his election campaign, leading a small protest outside the country's embassy and calling Erdogan a “dictator”.

His anti-Islam Party for Freedom came second in the Dutch election with 20 seats, compared to 33 for Mr Rutte's VVD, and is likely to be excluded from coalition talks.

The dispute over political campaigning for a constitutional referendum in Turkey has intensified since a rally to be held by Cavusoglu in Rotterdam was cancelled on Saturday.

Dutch authorities withdrew permission for the foreign minister's plane to land when he vowed to visit the country regardless, sparking a series of tit-for-tat sanctions.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and prominent ministers have called the Dutch government “fascists” and “Nazis”, while EU leaders have called the allegations offensive and “detached from reality”.

Yesterday Erdogan accused the EU's top court of starting a "crusade" against Islam after a ruling allowing European companies to ban employees from wearing religious or political symbols including the Islamic headscarf.