A Turkish minister has claimed "holy wars will soon begin" in Europe, in spite of the defeat of far-right leader Geert Wilders 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), which he considers “liberal”.

“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 . “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

“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.”

 Play Video  Play  Mute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:00 Loaded : 0% Progress : 0% Stream Type LIVE Remaining Time -0:00 Playback Rate 1  Chapters Chapters descriptions off , selected Descriptions  subtitles off , selected Subtitles  captions settings , opens captions settings dialog

captions settings captions off , selected Captions Audio Track  Fullscreen This is a modal window. Caption Settings Dialog Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Defaults Done Pro-Turkish protesters scuffle with police in Netherlands after minister expulsion

Mr 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 Mr 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.

French presidential candidate French presidential candidate Emmanuel Macon hailed the result as a victory for “progressives”, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Mr Rutte to congratulate him overnight.

The dispute over political campaigning for a constitutional referendum in Turkey has intensified since a rally to be held by Mr 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 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”

Turkish hackers spread the Turkish hackers spread the Nazi accusations across high profile Twitter accounts on Wednesday morning, posting pro-Erdogan messages and a link to the President speaking from accounts including Unicef USA, Amnesty International, BBC North America, Forbes and Justin Bieber’s Japanese account.

“A little bit of an Ottoman Slap to you, see you on 16 April,” read the identical tweets, using the hashtags #NaziGermany and #NaziHolland.

The dispute has sparked protests in Turkey and across Europe, while Turkish-backed rebels in Syria put out a video accusing the Dutch government of being swayed by the ideology of Mr Wilders’ “xenophobic and racist” Party for Freedom (PVV).

 In pictures: Turkey coup attempt  







 17 show all   In pictures: Turkey coup attempt































  1/17 Turkish President Erdogan attends the funeral service for victims of the thwarted coup in Istanbul at Fatih mosque on July 17, 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey Burak Kara/Getty Images

2/17 Soldiers involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge with their hands raised in Istanbul on 16 July, 2016 Gokhan Tan/Getty

3/17 A civilian beats a soldier after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 REUTERS/Murad Sezer

4/17 Surrendered Turkish soldiers who were involved in the coup are beaten by a civilian Reuters

5/17 Soliders involved in the coup attempt surrender on Bosphorus bridge Getty

6/17 Supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wave flags as they capture a Turkish Army vehicle Getty

7/17 People pose near a tank after troops involved in the coup surrendered on the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, 16 July, 2016 Reuters

8/17 Turkish soldiers block Istanbul's Bosphorus Brigde Getty

9/17 A Turkish military stands guard near the Taksim Square in Istanbul Reuters

10/17 Pierre Crom/Twitter

11/17 Turkish soldiers secure the area as supporters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan protest in Istanbul's Taksim square AP

12/17 Murad Sezer/Reuters

13/17 Turkish soldiers detain police officers during a security shutdown of the Bosphorus Bridge Reuters

14/17 Turkish Army armoured personnel carriers in the main streets of Istanbul Getty

15/17 Chaos reigned in Istanbul as tanks drove through the streets EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU

16/17 Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks to media in the resort town of Marmaris Reuters

17/17 Supporters of President Erdogan celebrate in Ankara following the suppression of the attempted coup Reuters

A protester scaled the Dutch consulate in Istanbul and replaced the national flag with the Turkish banner during demonstrations on Sunday, while Turkish protesters have been photographed stabbing oranges and holding signs reading “fascist Holland”.

Ankara also Ankara also halted high-level talks with Dutch government officials on Monday and closed its airspace to the country’s diplomats, while repeating threats to scrap a deal struck with the EU last year to slow the flow of refugees to Greece.

Nazi allegations were Nazi allegations were initially levelled at the German government by Mr Erdogan after several cities cancelled planned rallies.

At least four German local authorities have withdrawn permission for pro-Erdogan campaign events, as well as areas of Austria and Switzerland.

Allies of the Turkish President are targeting more than a million Turkish voters living in Europe who will be eligible to cast a ballot in the vote on 16 April.

The referendum could see Turkey’s parliamentary system replaced with an executive presidency using constitutional amendments that have alarmed human rights groups by granting sweeping powers to Mr Erdogan.

All rally cancellations have cited safety and administrative issues but were linked to concern over a crackdown seeing thousands of people detained in Turkey following an attempted coup in July.