The merchant and the preacher

Some events have already begun, such as the big Rembrandt exhibition at the Sakip Sabanci Museum. But Gül's trip has brought this special year to the attention of most Dutch people as well. All major Dutch newspapers published an interview with the president, and the main TV news network spoke with Gül as well. I am sure that during this week his visits to several parts of the country will be widely covered, too.

One of his stopovers, Floriade -- an international flower exhibition which is organized every 10 years -- is also politically interesting, and not because of Dutch-Turkish competition over who is most successful in branding the tulip as the country's main symbol. This year's Floriade is being staged in the southern town of Venlo, hometown of Geert Wilders, the extreme-right populist whose Freedom Party is supporting the present center-right government. Mr. Wilders is known for his blunt anti-Islam pronouncements and his strong resistance against Turkey's EU membership. A few months ago he called on the Dutch government to skip president Gül's visit altogether because, according to the political maverick, there is nothing to celebrate and Turkey is rapidly becoming an Islamic fundamentalist country. For obvious reasons Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte did not give in to this provocative demand. On Thursday President Gül will be in Venlo, and many observers are wondering whether Mr. Wilders will use this opportunity to demonstrate again that he is vehemently opposed to everything Turkish.

In most newspaper interviews President Gül was posed a question on Mr. Wilders and his views on Turkey. In his responses, the former foreign minister showed how capable he is at combining charm with political cleverness. He said he knew Mr. Wilders' controversial opinions on Turkey and that nobody should be surprised that he strongly disagreed. At the same time, Gül underlined that different views are part and parcel of politics in a democracy and that Mr. Wilders is welcome to visit Turkey and see with his own eyes how wrong his extreme judgments are. In one stroke, Gül positioned himself as a person open to dialogue, as opposed to Mr. Wilders, who is not interested in discussing but just wants to bash and to bully.

At the heart of President Gül's mission and of the celebrations of 400 years of the Turkish-Dutch relationship in general lies the importance of trade in past, present and future relations between the two countries. It's perfectly in line with the classic self-image of the Dutch, who like to see themselves as a centuries-old trading nation that, at the same time, does not shy away from regularly telling the rest of the world how it should behave on issues related to democracy and human rights. In short: the merchant and the preacher.

There has always been tension between these two self-perceptions. In the past, the business community often accused the Dutch left of moralizing too much, thereby damaging the chances of Dutch companies abroad in countries such as China, where human rights are still a big problem. Dutch firms do not like to be hampered in their ambitions. This week we could witness an interesting swap of roles.

According to a report by ING Bank, the Netherlands will be missing out on 4 billion euros of exports to Turkey in the next couple of years because Dutch entrepreneurs misunderstand Turkey. They have the impression that doing business in Turkey is still very difficult. ING Bank stresses the many changes that have taken place in Turkey lately which have made it much easier to set up a company here. But there is more to this story than just missed opportunities because of a lack of proper information. The hesitations in the business community reflect a growing skepticism among Dutch center-right politicians about Turkey and its chances of entering the EU. Mr. Wilders' Turkey-bashing has had an impact on the governing Christian-Democrats and conservative Liberals. Over the last couple of years, Turkey has been perceived by a growing number of right-wing pundits as a problem and a threat, not as an opportunity.

The ING warning is a timely intervention in the Dutch debate on Turkey, in which populist overtones are starting to have a negative impact on Dutch trade relations. Apparently, the merchants have had enough of this now and are telling the populist preacher and his followers to back off.