THE RETURN OF THE TURK? Turkish minister claims ‘holy wars will soon begin in Europe’ after Geert Wilders beaten.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, did not welcome the victory for Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s centre-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).

“Now the election is over in the Netherlands…when you look at the many parties you see there is no difference between the social democrats and fascist Wilders,” he said according to a translation by Hurriyet.

“All have the same mentality. Where will you go? Where are you taking Europe? You have begun to collapse Europe. You are dragging Europe into the abyss. Holy wars will soon begin in Europe.”

If you had thought this little matter had been settled at the gates of Vienna in 1683, well, memories run deep in the Middle East.