A Flemish politician has drawn the ire of Türkiye’s AK Party for suggesting Turkish-Belgian voters’ dual citizenship should be revoked because most of them voted for incumbent Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Flemish Regional Government Minister of State for Justice and Enforcement, Environment, Energy and Tourism, Zuhal Demir, herself a former Turkish citizen, has said that "Erdogan is much more popular in the Flemish region than in Türkiye. He got 72 percent of the vote.''

''European Turks are doing some kind of electoral doping. The only way to stop the brainwashing of Turks in the Flemish region is to make it impossible to vote for Erdogan." she added.

Between the right to vote and dual citizenship

Demir demanded "removing dual citizenship or reducing it to a symbolic form that does not recognise the right to vote."

Demir is a member of the New Flemish Alliance (N-VA), a Flemish nationalist and conservative party in Belgium. According to the Turkish press, she is the daughter of Turkish immigrants and was born in Belgium. She has spoken against dual citizenship in the past and had given up her Turkish citizenship in 2017.

Justice and Development (AK) Party spokesperson Omer Celik has tweeted a scathing response to Demir who “has targeted our overseas citizens. We strongly condemn this statement. It is grave that someone who holds a ministerial position in an EU country is using the language of European fascists.”

Celik went on to write “All of our citizens will soon give the answer to this distorted mentality once again at the ballot box. Our citizens, who are well aware of our President's struggle with this distorted mentality, will give this mentality the lesson it deserves by giving stronger support to our president.”

Out of line

Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin has also reacted strongly to Demir’s outrageous proposal, suggesting that Demir was out of line and that Turkish citizens in Europe, voting in the runoff elections, will exercise their democratic rights once more to elect Türkiye’s next president.

In a tweet, Kalin wrote: “They have lost comprehension and moderation enough to propose to take away the rights of our citizens living abroad, for voting for our president.”

“This is coming from a person who is a minister in an EU country.

"You be the judge."

“Our citizens living abroad will give the best answer to this.”