Far-right politician Geert Wilders’ unprecedented victory in the Dutch general elections ignited concerns among Muslims and people of migrant background, including Turks in the Netherlands.
Wilders and his Freedom Party (PVV) beat all predictions on Wednesday night by winning 37 seats out of 150 in the Dutch parliament, well ahead of a Labour/Green combination and the outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte's conservatives.
Muhsin Köktaş, head of the Contact Body for Muslims and Government (CMO) association, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that Wilders has highlighted that mosques, Islamic schools and the Quran do not belong to the Netherlands, and his victory was a major disappointment for Muslims. “It is worrying for the future of Muslims,” Köktaş said. “The Netherlands will not be livable for Muslims if Wilders implements his agenda and his views are accepted by his coalition partners,” he said. Köktaş noted that Wilders’ election promises were against the law. “He might not be able to carry out his promises but Wilders and far-right parties will do everything to make life hell for Muslims. They cannot ban everything, but they may enforce strict rules,” he said.
Throughout his political career, Wilders emphasized his opposition to Turks and Islam, claiming the Netherlands was under an “Islam threat." Wilders has long been an advocate of opposition to Türkiye’s European Union membership. He urged the EU not to admit Türkiye because of “its backwards Muslim culture.” He was the author of several anti-Turkish, anti-Muslim articles and was behind an Islamophobic documentary.
After the 2016 coup attempt by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), Wilders openly expressed his regret that the coup failed. He also called upon Türkiye’s expulsion from NATO. After the 2023 elections in Türkiye where President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan won another term, Wilders undemocratically threatened Turks in the Netherlands who voted for Erdoğan and called for them to leave the country.
Kenan Aslan, an official from the southern Netherlands branch of the Islamic Society National View, an organization founded by the Turkish community, said they are worried due to Wilders’ discriminating remarks against foreigners and Muslims. “The Dutch Constitution safeguards the rights of religious communities, but he may try to amend it. It is difficult, but he will try,” he said.
The Dutch Turkish Federation Chair Murat Gedik said rising voter support for Wilders also encourages other far-right organizations. He noted that Wilders wanted to ban dual citizenship and restrain migration. “This and his anti-Muslim stand found support among voters,” he said. “His election exerts a psychological pressure on Muslims, Turks, foreigners. We will see people of these backgrounds be more alienated, isolated. Turkish nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) will face more pressure. They have that rhetoric that (the ex-pat Turkish community) is ‘the long arm of Ankara’ and we will see this rhetoric more and more,” he said.
The result is sending shockwaves through Europe, where extremist nationalist ideology is putting pressure on democracies that now face the possibility of having to deal with the first far-right prime minister of the Netherlands.
Muslims make up around 5% of the Dutch population of almost 18 million people.
"It was a blow I have to process," Abessamad Taheri, a 45-year-old community worker in the multiethnic Schilderswijk neighborhood in The Hague told Reuters.
Mehdi Koç, a 41-year-old insulation installer, said he was shocked by the swing to the PVV, while Taheri said the vote sent different messages to Muslims, although the overwhelming emotion was disappointment.
"In part, the message is that many people are xenophobic and don't want foreigners or Muslims. But another message is that people are very disappointed in the 13 years of Rutte," he said.
However, Taheri, a member of the Labour Party, said he could not really separate that from all the "nasty things" Wilders had said about banning headscarves and closing mosques.
After his surprise win, Wilders said he wanted to be prime minister for "all Dutch people," but that appeared to do little to assuage concerns about what he might do later.
Some in the Netherlands think that the Dutch system of coalition government means Wilders will have to compromise on his most radical views, as political analysts also predict.
"He will not make the laws alone (other parties) will join and they have to cooperate," Kemal Yıldız, 54, said. "It will be fine," Yıldız added.
