President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared that Turkey will challenge the Netherlands in the European Court of Human Rights over its refusal to allow Turkish officials to enter the country and deliver campaign speeches, RT reports.
In an interview with A Haber television following a cabinet meeting in Ankara on Monday evening, the Turkish leader also promised to deploy "whatever sanctions we have" and to "hold the Netherlands accountable".
Erdogan also repeated an earlier charge, accusing Germany, another country where speeches by Turkish politicians were canceled, of "mercilessly" supporting terrorism.
"Mrs Merkel, why are you hiding terrorists in your country?... Why are you not doing anything?" said Erdogan, adding that 4,500 dossiers sent by Ankara of mostly Kurdish terror suspects have not resulted in extraditions. "Mrs Merkel, you are supporting terrorists."