Last Updated on March 11, 2020
The Netherland’s Muslim party leader caused an uproar following his remarks suggesting that the native Dutch should leave their homeland if they disagreed with diversity.
DENK party leader, Tunahan Kuzu, provoked a firestorm when he said, “If they don’t like a changing Netherlands in which people with different cultures live… like in the city of Zaandam or the neighbourhood of Poelenburg, they should get lost,” during an interview.
Founded in February 2015 by two former Turkish labor party (PVDA) members after a spat over their stance on integration, DENK has enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity, according to Voice of Europe.
The party has gained significant ground in areas with large Muslim populations, such as ‘Amsterdam Nieuw-West,’ and won three seats after garnering around 200,000 votes.
A nascent trend in Europe has seen migrant-dominant parties or politicians sweeping aside old leftist parties in majority-minority constituencies.
In the UK, for example, constituencies with a minority population of above 30% become Labour strongholds, never to vote Tory again.
DENK has been accused of deep ties to the autocratic Erdogan regime in Turkey–which has recently been source of potential international conflict after Turkey opened its borders with Greece, allowing for tens of thousands of so-called refugees to pour in; which, in turn, prompted Greece to mobilize troops to repel the onslaught of migrants trampling over the country to gain access to Northwest European welfare states.
The Turkocentric Muslim party has also been accused of being the only Dutch party of not formally recognizing the Armenian Genocide.
One of DENK’s co-founders, during an argument, said, “may Allah punish you!” in a meeting with their former PVDA party.
