Via Today's Zaman:
A gathering of Turkish and European parliamentarians in Brussels turned eventful on Tuesday when a far-right Dutch deputy lambasted Islam and Turkey and then attempted to present a caricature deemed criminal by Turkish prosecutors as a “gift” to a Turkish minister.
Barry Madlener, a Dutch politician from the Party for Freedom (PVV), first caused tensions when he said at a meeting of the European Union-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee that Turkey did not belong to Europe because it has a “backward Islamic ideology” that does not fit with European values. “Islam and freedoms cannot coexist,” Madlener said before accusing Turkey of restricting freedom of the press and Internet and criticizing increasing violence against women and homosexuals. He said even caricaturists were being put on trial and walked towards Turkish State Minister Egemen Bağış, one of the panelists at the meeting, saying he wanted to present him an illustration by a Turkish cartoonist as a “gift.”(source)
