Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot asked the Turkish community in the Netherlands to stay calm in regards to the exclusion of Turkish members from the parliamentary member election list due to their rejection of the Armenian Genocide. Bot said the government is not the cause of the problem, noting that the parties had decided on the exclusion themselves. Attending the iftar meal organized in Rotterdam by Zaman Daily, he evaluated the crisis, which broke out after Turkish candidates, who refused to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, were withdrawn by the Christian Democrats (CDA) and the main opposition, the Labor Party (PvdA). Asking Armenia and Turkey to face up to their past, Bot added that the Armenian Genocide issue should not strain both communities until an agreement based on serious and detailed research is reached, reported zaman.com.