Bert Koenders

European Union member countries are presenting a divided picture on whether to continue full membership talks with Turkey, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel vowed to call her European partners to either suspend or end Ankara's bid to join the 29-member club. 

Dutch officials are in talks with Turkish counterparts to secure the return of at least 10 citizens with dual nationalities after Turkey barred them from leaving, a Dutch official said April 6. 

"We are obviously doing everything we can to assist these people," Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said in a statement, adding he had raised the issue at the highest levels in Ankara.

A shopkeeper in the Kahta district of the southeastern province of Adıyaman has filed a criminal complaint against the Netherlands's king, prime minister and other government officials after Turkish ministers were banned from entering the country, escalating tensions between the Netherlands and Turkey, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

The Dutch government said on March 9 it would not welcome the Turkish foreign minister to the Netherlands if he was coming to solicit the votes of local Turks in a constitutional referendum that would shift the parliamentary system to an executive presidency.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu spoke on the phone to his Dutch counterpart Bert Koenders on March 8 ahead of his planned visit to the Netherlands in a bid to address Turks living there on constitutional change referendum campaigns in Turkey. 

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov is on a visit to the Hague on October 6-7 for official meetings and a public lecture, his ministry has said.

Mitov will be received by his counterpart, Bert Koenders, and Migration Minister Klaas Dijkhoff.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders has warned the Netherlands cannot guarantee the safety of citizens travelling to Turkey if they have been critical of Turkish leaders.
 

Turkey's minister for European Union affairs and its chief negotiator with the bloc, Volkan Bozk?r, said if the EU does not grant Turkish citizens visa-free travel, Turkey could stop accepting migrants sent from Greece.

Turkey's minister for European Union Affairs and the chief negotiator with the bloc, Volkan Bozk?r, held talks with Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders as the ministers of the bloc were in Amsterdam to attend an EU ministers meeting on April 11-12. 

The two ministers discussed regional issues, namely the migrant crisis and counter-terrorism efforts, in Amsterdam on April 12. 

Turkey's foreign and EU ministers have met with ministers from across Europe in Istanbul to discuss the handling of the migrant crisis ahead of an EU ministers meeting in the Netherlands on April 11-12.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu and EU Minister Volkan Bozk?r hosted ministers from the Netherlands, which holds the EU presidency, France, Slovakia and Portugal on April 9.