Turkey's Erdogan sues Dutch leader Geert Wilders over 'terrorist' remark

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed a criminal complaint against Dutch opposition leader Geert Wilders after the latter called "terrorist". Erdogan's lawyer on October 27 filed a complaint against Wilders for insulting the president, a crime that is punishable by up to four years in Turkey under Article 299 of the Turkish penal code. Erdogan's lawyer has filed a complaint against Wilders over a series of tweets that the latter had posted calling Turkey's president "mad terrorist". 

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Wilders, a far-right politician is known for his attacks on Islam and Turkey's leader Tayyip Erdogan. Wilders had once held a competition for caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. "My speech in the Dutch parliament today about the brutal and barbaric murder of Samuel Paty, the importance of freedom of speech, the dangers of Islam and the mad terrorist Erdogan who filed a criminal complaint against me," Wilders wrote on Twitter sharing the video of his speech in the Dutch parliament.  

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Turkey vs EU?

This comes amid deteriorating relations between Turkey and the European Union countries over several issues, including the recent feud between Ankara and Paris. France on October 25 recalled its ambassador from Turkey after Erdogan said Emmanuel Macron needed mental health check-up over the latter's refusal of giving up Prophet Mohammed cartoons following the beheading of a history teacher Samuel Paty. Turkey and the EU are at odds on other issues such as Ankara's energy mining in the waters of the Eastern Mediterranean, the unification of Cyprus, etc. 

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