Diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Turkey received a new wave of strife after a large number of Twitter accounts were hijacked on Wednesday by Turkish hackers. The accounts, which had no apparent connections to the Netherlands-Turkey dispute, had anti-Nazi messages posted in Turkish on their handles. The cyber-attacks have been regarded as acts of political vandalism. The tweets posted used the hashtags #Nazialmanya or #Nazihollanda. Accounts that were hijacked included those of some high-profile CEOs, government agencies, book and magazine publishers as well as some regular users.
Some notable accounts that were hacked included those of Amnesty International and Unicef USA. Other accounts that were hacked included the European Parliament’s, the United Kingdom’s Health Department and BBC North America. French politician Alain Juppe also had his account hacked in the wave of cyber-attacks. Marcelo Claure, Chief Executive Officer of the US telecommunications company Sprint Corporation also had his mind suffer unlawful access. Publishers’ accounts that were hijacked by the Turkish group included Reuters Japan, Die Walt, and Forbes. Duke University’s official Twitter handle was also ablaze with Turkish tweets after the Turkish hackers gained access to it as well.
The attacks have seemingly been as a result of deteriorating relations between Turkey and other European countries. The disagreements between these countries come as a consequence of the Turkish referendum that plans to give their President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, more powers. These attacks have been linked to the disagreements since the Turkish President called German officials “Nazi remnants and fascists,” showing he was against them. The comments followed a diplomatic row caused by the canceling of a rally in the Netherlands, where Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had been hoping to get some ‘yes’ votes so as to tilt the planned referendum in support of the President. Netherlands has approximately 400,000 Turks living and working within its boundaries. According to the Dutch government, the rally was canceled because it was a threat to the area’s security.
Germany also canceled a similar rally and cited security reasons. This angered Turkey’s President, resulting to the name-calling. President Erdogan is of the opinion that the two countries simply do not want a referendum in support for his power to being increased. Other European countries have expressed their discomfort in Turkey’s turn to authoritarian rule following the attempted coup last year. The hackers, on the other hand, appear to be in support of a yes vote since they echoed President Erdogan’s anti-Nazi comments. Further, they also posted the phrase “see you on April 15th” over the Twitter accounts. April 15th is the date scheduled for Turkey’s referendum.
Some of these Twitter accounts have fortunately been able to get back their security and to continue work as usual. However, other accounts remain under siege. The accounts of BBC North America, the UK Health Department, and Europe’s parliament have all been able to re-access their accounts and increase their cyber-security. Accounts such as Marcelo Claure’s, unfortunately, are yet to be recovered from the hands of the hackers. After regaining control of their mind, BBC North America noted on its Twitter handle, “Hi everyone – we temporarily lost control of this account, but normal service has resumed.”
