On 26 September 2006 , a candidate for the Labour Party , Erdinç Saçan , was removed by his party , because he would not hold to the party stance that the Armenian Genocide was caused by the Young Turks . That same evening , the CDA announced that two of their candidates , Ayhan Tonca and Osman Elmaci , have been removed as well , because of the same issue . Both parties agreed that all their members should openly conform to the party 's point of view on this sensitive human rights issue . The sensitivity over these issues was underlined when the speaker of the Turkish parliament , Bülent Arınç , in response threatened the Netherlands with diplomatic action over this incident . Namik Tan , spokesperson for the Turkish Department of Foreign Affairs said that " we are deeply worried about the one-sided approach of our ally Netherlands ’ political parties on the so-called Armenian genocide as this puts a limit on the freedom of expression . " Labour Party leader Wouter Bos later said that the term genocide is used too easily , and that he rather speak of the " Armenian Question . " '' De Volkskrant '' newspaper published a story just a week before the election saying that Dutch soldiers " tortured " Iraqi prisoners in Iraq , back in 2003 . Defense minister Henk Kamp ordered an immediate ( re - ) investigation into the matter , but said that earlier information about this case did not result in the military police and Dutch public prosecutors to start a criminal investigation . Left-wing parties , such as the Labour Party ( PvdA ) , which demanded an immediate parliamentary investigation were later rebuked by military commander Dick Berlijn , who stated that the left-wing opposition tarnished the reputation of the Dutch Department of Defense by their incriminating language , while nothing happened in Iraq . Mark Rutte , leader of the VVD , even went as far as to say that this Iraq story was a manipulation in order to influence the elections . In an open letter to De Volkskrant on the day of the Dutch elections , defense minister Kamp said the news about possible mistreatment was deceptive , and that the editor of De Volkskrant should feel being misused by the sources for this story . The Department of Defense in the meantime is demanding a rectification of the story published by De Volkskrant
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
2006 Dutch general election