Geert Wilders says he doesn’t want ‘Turks or Swedes’ in Dutch Parliament

THE HAGUE – Anadolu Agency

Far-right Dutch politician Geert Wilders has pushed for ethnic qualifications to decide who is able to become a Dutch lawmaker.

“This is the Netherlands’ parliament, you have to be Dutch here. I don’t want a Turk, a Moroccan, or a Swede in parliament. Don’t I have a right to say that? This is my country,” Wilders, a Dutch lawmaker notorious for his anti-Islamic and anti-immigrant views, said in parliament.

Wilders, leader of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV), also spoke out against a deputy or a government minister having dual citizenship, saying that they must be loyal to the country of their parliament, not to two countries.

Tunahan Kuzu, the leader of Denk, a party founded by ethnic Turkish lawmakers, rebuffed Wilders’ remarks.

“Dual citizenship means nothing about a person’s loyalty to the country. One’s loyalty is measured by character,” Kuzu said.

On Wilders’ proposed ethnic requirement, Kuzu pointed out: “The country’s constitution - not Wilders - decides who’s Dutch.”

Back in March, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu blasted Wilders’ “racist, fascist” mentality.

Wilders’ PVV won 20 seats in the House of Representatives in elections in the same month. During the campaign, he had pledged to take the Netherlands out of the EU, close all mosques, and ban the Quran.