Politician of Turkish descent removed from electoral list in Netherlands

A young Dutch politician has been disqualified from his party's electoral list, apparently due to his positions on the Armenian issue and the Middle East conflict.

Yasin Makineli, who was running for the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), revealed in an interview with TRT Deutsch on Tuesday that he had been asked to label the events of 1915 as 'genocide' and apologise to an Israeli lobbying organisation for his support of Palestine.

Despite being democratically endorsed by party members at the party conference on September 23, the 24-year-old of Turkish descent politician was surprised by his party's decision.

Makineli aimed to address "current issues affecting people," such as increasing energy costs and declining purchasing power in the Netherlands. "We were born and raised here and we want to engage in discussing important matters," he said.

The 24-year-old politician drew parallels between his situation and that of three Turkish-origin politicians who were expelled from their parties in 2006 because they refused to politicise historical questions related to the events of 1915.

"It's disheartening that nothing has changed in 17 years. I've encountered the same situation as my political predecessors and I'm deeply disappointed," he said.

The Netherlands is set to hold early parliamentary elections on November 22, following the collapse of coalition negotiations after the March elections.

The Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB) is a new protest party seeking the support of farmers and rural populations.

In the March 2023 provincial parliament elections, the right-conservative party emerged as the leading force nationwide.