TROJAN HORSE: ANKARA INFLUENCED DUTCH ELECTION RESULTS

Brussels Journal, Belgium
Dec 8 2006

>From the desk of Paul Belien on Fri, 2006-12-08 15:27

Yesterday evening, the Dutch television program Nova caused
considerable embarrassment in the Netherlands by revealing how the
Turkish government influenced last months’ Dutch general elections.

In an e-mail sent to thousands of ethnic Turks in the Netherlands
the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs called on them to vote for
Fatma Koser Kaya, a 38-year old woman whose family emigrated to the
Netherlands when she was six years old. Koser Kaya is a member of the
leftist "social-liberal" Democrats 66 (D66) party. On 22 November,
D66 lost three of its previous six seats in Parliament. Koser Kaya,
however, though only sixth on the list of D66 candidates, was
elected as one of the party’s three parliamentarians thanks to the
34,564 individual votes she got, possibly as a result of the Turkish
government’s interference.

Immigrants are known to overwhelmingly vote for candidates of their
own ethnic group. Since they have often not integrated in the country
where they have settled their loyalties lie with their countries
of origin. This has created a situation where the immigrants in
Western democracies become Trojan horses of foreign nationalism and
religious fanaticism. This phenomenon became apparent in this year’s
local elections in the Netherlands and in neighbouring Belgium. It
tipped the balance in favour of parties that put forward immigrant
candidates. At the same time, however, it worked to the disadvantage
of indigenous candidates on these parties’ lists, causing considerable
resentment among the latter.

In an e-mail, sent from a government address in Ankara, the Turks in
the Netherlands were asked to vote for Koser Kaya. The e-mail was
sent by Ali Alaybeyoglu, the advisor to Mehmet Aydin, the Turkish
minister of Religious Affairs. The first paragraph reads:

"We all realize that no-one can represent Turks better than Turks.

The Turkish community is threatened by assimilation. If we do not
unite and vote for a common candidate our position will only worsen
in future."

The e-mail lists five reasons why Turks should vote for Koser Kaya.

The most important one is the fact that D66 does not recognize the
Turkish genocide of the Armenians in 1915. The four other reasons
have to do with D66’s opposition to the policies of Rita Verdonk,
the Dutch minister of Integration.

The Armenian issue became a topic in the Dutch general elections when
the two leading parties in the country, the Christian-Democrats and
Labour, refused to put forward candidates of Turkish origin who did
not accept the party line that there was a genocide of the Armenians
in 1915. As a reaction Turkish lobby groups initiated a campaign
to urge Dutch voters of Turkish ancestry to boycott any party that
labels the 1915 mass killing of Armenians a genocide.

The e-mail from the Turkish ministry lists the Dutch parties and
points out why, apart from D66, they are not acceptable to Turks. The
Christian-Democrats and Labour are excluded because of their position
on the genocide, the Liberal Party VVD because it "is the party of
Verdonk and Hirsi Ali," the Animal Rights Party because it considers
"animals to be more important than Turks," and the Calvinist Party
because it "is preparing a new crusade."

Today, the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs contacted Ankara about
the affair. The Turkish Minister of Religious Affairs said he knows
nothing about an e-mail. Minister Aydin added that if this e-mail
had indeed been sent he strongly condemns it. "We do not interfere in
the internal politics of our friends," he said. Aydin’s collaborator
Alaybeyoglu, the man who allegedly sent the e-mail, said that several
people have access to his e-mail address. According to the Dutch
ministry the matter is still under investigation.

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