Controversial name in the Netherlands set its sights on the prime minister’s seat
Dutch-born Tunceli-born Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz has announced that she will be running for party leadership, replacing Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who decided to quit politics after the government collapsed.
Dutch Prime Minister Rutte announced last week the resignation of the four-party coalition government. It was reported that the government fell as a result of the lack of consensus on the article of returning refugees from the war zone and limiting family reunification of these people.
Rutte also stated that he would not participate in the elections scheduled for November and decided to leave politics.
Justice Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius announced that he will run for the leadership of the conservative Peoples’ Freedom and Democracy Party (VVD) to replace Rutte. Yeşilgöz, 46, a member of the Dutch Parliament since 2017, will become the first female leader of the VVD if she is elected.
DECISION ON THE SCARF GENERATED DISCUSSION
Yeşilgöz, who immigrated to the Netherlands from Ankara as a child, was appointed Dutch Minister of State for Economic Affairs and Climate Policy in 2021 and has served as Minister of Security and Justice since last year.
According to the Dutch press, many party members are expected to declare their support for Yeşilgöz this week, while other leading VVD figures have announced that they will not be candidates for party leadership. Dutch newspapers wrote that Dilan Yeşilgöz is likely to win the party leadership elections.
Yeşilgöz created controversy last month with his statement that the country’s new dress code prohibits uniformed police officers from wearing clothing and accessories containing religious symbols such as headscarves, crosses or kippahs.
Yeşilgöz announced that this issue, which has been discussed for a long time, has been included in the dress code and that uniformed men are now prohibited from wearing religious and political symbols such as headscarves, crosses and yarmulke. Yeşilgöz’s opposition to the suggestion that veiling should be allowed in uniforms and that he would not allow such a practice while he was on duty, provoked a reaction from some quarters.