Muslim nations take border-crossing responsibility for how kids are raised? Perhaps Erdoğan should take responsibility for human rights abuse and the jailing of journalists in Turkey. Watchdog calls on gov’t to free activists, scribes.
Turkey, Dutch leaders spar over boy’s foster case
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (Charlotte Observer) – Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte bluntly rejected an appeal Thursday by his Turkish counterpart for ministerial-level talks over the case of a boy taken from his Turkish parents in the Netherlands and placed in the foster care of a lesbian couple.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was visiting the Netherlands to boost trade and mark four centuries of diplomatic relations between the two countries. But the spat over the 9-year-old boy, identified only as Yunus, overshadowed the day-long visit.
Erdoğan said placing a child from a Muslim background with lesbians could breach his nation’s “moral and religious values.” He said talks between ministries in the two countries that oversee child care could “prevent this kind of problem so the strong relationship between our countries is not weakened.”
But Rutte told reporters: “The placing of Dutch foster children is the responsibility of the Netherlands alone. Nobody else.”
« click
In a joint press conference with his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, Erdoğan told reporters:
“We should hand over Yunus to secure hands. If we say `a six-month child cannot make such a decision
so it is the judiciary who decides,’ then this could lead to us to a big mistake.”Yunus was removed from his biological parents’ care in the Netherlands while still a baby, and eventually placed in the care of the lesbian couple, who live in The Hague.
His biological mother, Nurgul Azeroglu, appeared on a Turkish television program earlier this month and called on Erdoğan to intervene in the case. She acknowledged having accidentally dropped the child from a poorly fastened carrying bag once – apparently part of the reason he was removed from her care.
Turkey is a Muslim-majority state with a largely secular political history, but many Turks nonetheless are conservative on issues such as homosexuality.
Erdoğan’s political party has Islamist roots, and prominent Turkish politicians have recently spoken out against children of Turkish ancestry being raised by Christians, homosexuals, or others whose values are rejected by their biological parents.
Dutch lesbian couple in hiding with foster son after biological parents’ protest on Turkish TV
(HuffPost) – A Dutch lesbian couple have gone into hiding with their foster son after the boy’s biological parents said on television in Turkey that they object to the pair taking care of their child.
The matter is threatening to overshadow an official visit by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Netherlands next week. Lodewijk Asscher, the Dutch vice prime minister, told reporters Friday that the issue is an internal Dutch matter and that political interference from Turkey is “inappropriate.”
Asscher praised the foster parents for taking on a “child in danger” and defended Dutch social service policies.
“The selection of a foster family in the Netherlands is a careful process. We don’t choose foster parents
on the basis of race or heritage, but on whether a child is in good hands with them.”Child social services in The Hague said there was no specific threat against Yunus or his foster parents, but he has been kept home from school as a precaution since the interview aired.
Where have the parents and Erdogan been for the past eight and a half years that this child has been in foster care? Seriously doubt that Dutch child social services are into baby snatching and don’t work to unite parents and children whenever possible.
I wrote this diary because of the changing domestic policy inside Turkey, moving towards an Islamic state where human rights come under pressure. In Turkey foreign policy their support fot the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab revolution and intervention to overthrow the Assad regime has bothered me for some time. Being a NATO partner, Turkey is treated with all the egards in support of the intervention. Training camps and hospital treatment for the Sunni jihadists inside Turkey.
The intolerance of Turkey towards homosexuals, lesbians and Christians is well demonstrated by their rhetoric. Inside the Netherlands, the state has accepted a large group of immigrants and family members from Muslim nations. At 15% of the population, their culture is a large part of multicultural society in The Netherlands. The nationalists of which Geert Wilders is most outspoken (paid for by US Likudniks), agitate against the Muslim population. Racism is spreading in Dutch society and the Muslim youth are revolting and brought the Israeli-Palestinian issue inside Dutch cities. Racists remarks towards the Muslim population and their youth with anti-semitic remarks towards Jews, synagogues and monuments.
The Syrian sectarian war is spreading not only in the ME region, but one hundred Dutch muslim men are now fighting alongside Al-Nusra jihadists. Fortunately this week two have returned in body bags, we’ll see if they will be honored as martyrs.
The so-called Dutch tolerance as a virtue has lost its value a long time ago. For PM Erdogan to intervene in Dutch society should be unacceptable, he was forewarned but is a person with his own agenda.
As for the decision to keep the child by the foster parents, most likely the biological parents have been dealt too harsh a verdict by the autonomous Child Protection agency. In 2007, on appeal the biological parents won the court case on all points. The child should have been re-united with the family. In the next step, the welfare agency wanted to take the older children away, so the Turkish family abruptly left and fled to their home country. The parents are most likely listed on the Interpol watch list for child abduction. In the city of The Hague I have had the hassle with the separation of my daughter after PPD and her son, my grandson.
Agree that Erdogan should have publicly stayed out of this and appreciate that intolerance for Muslims and Turkish immigrants in western Europe including The Netherlands is high and that fundamentalist Muslim factions in Turkey have been increasing and gaining power. Very disturbing that the Dutch officials refused to comply with the 2007 court order to return the child to his parents and also threatened those parents with losing their other children. So perhaps I erred and their Childrens’ services is into baby snatching as white people in other countries such as Australia, the US, and Argentina were in the past.
I wonder how many times Obama had to water board him to get that simple act of humanity. Attack a ship with the flag of a NATO member state then wait three years to even apologize. No respect for anyone a society that really really needs to examine how the occupation is affecting their international relations.
I hope we are not giving them 30 Apache helicopters for that phone call. You never know what Obama promised. Netanyahu has contempt for our leaders make no mistake. Lets hope this was payback for Obama’s visit. Israel is paranoid and things like that mean a lot to them. Lets them know apartheid is still cool with the U.S. This is such a mess.
Interesting article you have in the Daily News on the Kurd’s problems in Turkey. It never ends. Every race and culture has blood on its hands. I think of reservations a lot. Manifest Destiny, Wounded knee, Jim Crow the original sin slavery. You have to compartmentalize or you will never stand for anything. I guess you have to let the dead rest in peace and try to deal with todays nightmares…
Or perhaps a promise from Turkey to continue facilitating regime change in Syria.