A Dutch lesbian couple have gone into hiding with their foster son
after the boy's biological parents said on television in Turkey that
they object to the pair taking care of their child.
The
matter is threatening to overshadow an official visit by Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the Netherlands next week. Lodewijk
Asscher, the Dutch vice prime minister, told reporters Friday that
the issue is an internal Dutch matter and that political interference
from Turkey is "inappropriate."
The 9-year-old boy
identified by his first name, Yunus, was removed from his biological
parents' care - in the Netherlands - 8 years ago, while he was still a
baby because of total neglect by the parents, and eventually placed in
the care of a lesbian couple, who live in The Hague.
His
biological mother, Nurgul Azeroglu, appeared on a Turkish television
program earlier this month and called on Erdogan to intervene in the
case. She acknowledged having accidentally dropped the child from a
poorly fastened carrying bag once - apparently part of the reason he
was removed from her care.
Dutch newspaper NRC
Handelsblad reported that two other children were also to be taken away
from the family in 2008, but they then traveled to Turkey to prevent
that from happening.
Prominent Turkish politicians have
recently spoken out against children of Turkish ancestry being raised
by Christians, homosexuals, or others whose values are rejected by
their biological parents.
Note EU-Digest: In the
Netherlands many people consider the Turkish intervention in this case
totally inappropriate and have declared a "Erdogan Go Home Week"
during the upcoming Turkish PM's visit to the Netherlands.
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