Netherlands statement on the unaccompanied victim of the earthquake

The Netherlands informed the Turkish authorities that the boy, who was alone in the city center of Maastricht, spoke Turkish and was allegedly a victim of the earthquake, was not a citizen of the Republic of Turkey.

The Turkish ambassador in The Hague, Selçuk Ünal, explained that the Embassy and the Consulate General of Deventer made an attempt before the Dutch authorities after the incident was reflected in the local press. Stating that Muammer Hakan Cengiz, Consul General of Deventer, met with the Maastricht police, Ünal said they learned that the boy was interviewed by policemen of Turkish origin after it was noted that he could only speak Turkish.

Ünal said: “We expressed our reaction to the police because the Deventer Consulate General was not informed after the police found the boy alone. In this case, the Dutch Social Services were informed when they should have called us. We asked which social service center the child was in.

Emphasizing that the Turkish Embassy in The Hague took initiatives with the Dutch Foreign Ministry and security authorities, Ünal continued as follows:

“The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, contacted again by our Embassy this morning, informed that the child in question is not a citizen of the Republic of Turkey. They informed us that the nationality of the child and his origin are still being investigated by the Ministry of the Interior and Justice ”.

Dutch Maastricht police shared on their social media account that the boy, who said he had come to the Netherlands from Turkey, was found alone in Maastricht city center. In the police message, it was stated that the boy’s parents said that they were in Turkey and that they were injured in the earthquake, and it was recorded that the boy was transferred to the social service institution. (AA)