Dutch–Turkish relations are the

bilateral relations Bilateralism is the conduct of political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which is activity by a single state or jointly by multiple states, respectively. When ...

between the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The diplomatic relations widely encompass and span four centuries, beginning in 1612. The first Turkish representative in the Netherlands started activities in 1859. Before the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

had their own

consuls A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

in the Levant, they traded under the French Capitulations of 1569 until they sent Cornelius Haga as a consul to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

in 1611. The States-General was responsible for appointing the consul, but the Levant merchants in these cases were closely consulted. The poor payment system for the consuls disrupted the potential successes of the relationship between consul and merchant community. The merchants requested changing to the Venetian fixed salary payment, but the States-General went against their wishes and tried to find other means of income. This posed problems for the Dutch consuls, and there are many reports of cases where consuls exerted their authority over the nations members who did not want to pay consulate and embassy dues. Despite internal struggle within the Dutch nation, it had a good relationship with the Ottomans and in 1804 Sultan

Selim III Selim III (; ; was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. Regarded as an enlightened ruler, he was eventually deposed and imprisoned by the Janissaries, who placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV (). A group of a ...

(1789–1807) appointed the first resident representative to Amsterdam. Turkeye is a village of

Sluis Sluis (; ; ) is a city and municipality located in the west of Zeelandic Flanders, in the south-western Dutch province of Zeeland. The current incarnation of the municipality has existed since 1 January 2003. The former municipalities of Oostb ...

, a municipality located in the west of

Zeelandic Flanders Zeelandic Flanders ( ; ; )''Vlaanderen'' in isolation: . is the southernmost region of the province of Zeeland in the south-western Netherlands. It lies south of the Western Scheldt that separates the region from the remainder of Zeeland and th ...

, in the south-western part of the Netherlands. In 1604, Prince Maurits changed the name of the village in Turkeye to thank the Turkish sailors for their support to the Dutch during the battle with the Spaniards in the

Dutch War of Independence The Eighty Years' War or Dutch Revolt (; 1566/1568–1648) was an armed conflict in the Habsburg Netherlands between disparate groups of rebels and the Spanish government. The causes of the war included the Reformation, centralisation, ex ...

. The history of Turkey and the Netherlands stretches back to the 17th century, when the first representative of the States-General was sent to the Sublime Porte. Relations between the two have continued ever since, further cemented by Turkish guest workers in the '60s and '70s, and today by strong economic ties. There was a

diplomatic crisis Diplomatics (in American English, and in most anglophone countries), or diplomatic (in British English), is a scholarly discipline centred on the critical analysis of documents, especially historical documents. It focuses on the conventions, pr ...

between the two countries in 2017. After a year of diplomatic crisis, in 2018, the two countries reached an agreement on all issues to normalize their diplomatic relations. Both countries are members of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. the Netherlands is an EU

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

and Turkey is an EU

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is a prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position. For example, one can be a candidate for membership in a group (sociology), group or election to an offic ...

. the Netherlands opposes Turkey's accession negotiations to the EU, although negotiations have now been suspended.

Political relations

The Netherlands and Turkey are both members of the

, the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermath ...

, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the

Union for the Mediterranean The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM; , ''Al-Ittiḥād min ajl al-Mutawasseṭ'') is an intergovernmental organization of 43 member states from Europe and the Mediterranean Basin: the 27 Member state of the European Union, EU member states (i ...

Patriot missile support

In January 2013, The Netherlands sent two Patriot missile batteries along with troops to help Turkey defend against the missile threat from Syria. This was the third time Dutch Patriot missiles have been deployed in Turkey, after 1991 and 2003, in which they helped against possibile attacks from Iraq.

Yunus Affair

During a state visit to the Netherlands In March 2013, Prime Minister Erdoğan criticized the placement of the Turkish-Dutch foster child Yunus with lesbian foster parents. Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands Lodewijk Asscher considered the involvement of Turkey "totally inappropriate" and called it "presumptuous" when a foreign power expresses an opinion on the policy of Dutch foster care. Erdoğan proposed that the Turkish Ministry of Family Affairs and the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice consult each other about the care of children of Turkish origin, but Prime Minister

Mark Rutte Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as the 14th Secretary General of NATO, secretary general of NATO since October 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands, prime minister of the Neth ...

rejected this proposal. Rutte said that placement of a child in a foster family always involves trying to match the child's background to that of the foster family. Failing that, the interest of the child comes first, and no distinction is made on the basis of religion or sexual orientation. Erdoğan intended to turn to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...

to enforce Yunus to be reunited with his biological parents.

2017 referendum campaign dispute

In the wake of the Turkish constitutional referendum, events featuring Turkish Ministers were scheduled to be held in the Netherlands in March 2017 in order to promote the proposed amendments to the

Constitution of Turkey The Constitution of Turkey, formally known as the Constitution of the Republic of Türkiye (), and informally as the Constitution of 1982 (), is Turkey's fundamental law. It establishes the organization of the government, and sets out the pr ...

. The Dutch Government under

prohibited Turkish Ministers from entering the Netherlands for rallies, stating "We are of the opinion that Dutch public spaces are not the place for political campaigns of other countries". Turkish President

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

sharply condemned the decision, calling the Netherlands a "

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

remnant". Overseas election campaigning, even in diplomatic missions, is illegal under Turkish law; yet most political parties in Turkey including the ruling AKP have flouted the law. On 13 March 2017, Deputy Turkish Prime Minister

Numan Kurtulmuş Numan Kurtulmuş (born 15 September 1959) is a Turkish politician and academic who is currently the speaker of the Grand National Assembly. He served as Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey in the 62nd, 63rd, 64th and 65th AKP governments between ...

announced the suspension of high-level diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Turkey and barred the Dutch ambassador from returning to Ankara. The countries normalized the relations and appointed ambassadors in 2018.

Sanctions against Turkey

Netherlands criticized the

2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria On 9 October 2019, the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and the Syrian National Army (SNA) launched an offensive against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and later it involved the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in northern Syria. It was code-named the Op ...

. On 10 October 2019, a large majority of Dutch MPs backed the introduction of sanctions against Turkey. the Netherlands imposed an arms embargo on Turkey in 2019 due to Turkey's military operation in northeastern Syria. In July 2023, the Netherlands lifted its embargo on weapons exports to Turkey.

Osman Kavala dispute

In October 2021, in the wake of the appeal for the release of Turkish activist

Osman Kavala Mehmet Osman Kavala (born 2 October 1957) is a Turkish economist, businessman, philanthropist, and political activist. Kavala is the founder and chair of the board of Anadolu Kültür, an Istanbul-based nonprofit arts and culture organization. In ...

signed by 10 western countries, Turkish president

ordered his foreign minister to declare the Dutch ambassador ''

persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (PNG) is a foreign diplomat that is asked by the host country to be recalled to their home country. If the person is not recalled as requested, the host state may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the diplo ...

'', alongside the other 9 ambassadors. Following a statement by the ambassadors, reiterating their compliance with Article 41 of the

Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961 is an international treaty that defines a framework for diplomatic relations between independent countries. Its aim is to facilitate "the development of friendly relations" among government ...

regarding the diplomatic duty not to interfere in host states’ internal affairs, President Erdoğan decided to not expel the ambassadors.

Turkey's stance on candidacy for NATO Secretary General

In April 2024, Turkey announced that they decided to support the candidacy of Dutch Prime Minister

, who announced that he would be a candidate for NATO Secretary General.

Economic relations

Trade volume between Turkey and the Netherlands has increased remarkably over the years. In 2008, the Netherlands exported for almost 4 billion euros worth of goods to Turkey. This amount is doubled compared to 2000. Turkey exported in the same year 1.6 billion euros worth of goods to the Netherlands, with a share of 32 percent for garments. Turkey is a very popular holiday destination for Dutch tourists. In 2009, more than 1.1 million Dutch tourists visited Turkey. As of February 2011, 1894 Dutch companies have invested in Turkey, declared the Foreign Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu,Sayın Bakanımızın Hollanda Dışişleri Bakanı Uri Rosenthal ile Yaptığı Ortak Basın Toplantısı, 2 Şubat 2011, Ankara
making the Netherlands the country with the biggest investment in projects in Turkey.

High level visits

Resident diplomatic missions

* the Netherlands has an embassy in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

and a consulate-general in

. * Turkey has an embassy in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

and consulates-general in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Deventer Deventer (; Sallaans dialect, Sallands: ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Salland historical region of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel, ...

and

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...