ROTTERDAM — Turkey and the Netherlands sharply escalated a dispute between the two NATO allies on Saturday as the Dutch blocked a campaign visit by the Turkish foreign minister, prompting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to call them ‘‘fascists.’’

From blocking Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to land in the Netherlands in the morning to Turkish officials closing off the Dutch Embassy in the evening, relations between the two sank ever deeper in the diplomatic standoff over the right of Turkish government officials to speak about their political plans at rallies in Europe.

The Dutch first withdrew the landing rights of the foreign minister because of objections to his intention to rally in Rotterdam for a Turkish referendum on constitutional reforms to expand presidential powers, which the Dutch see as a step backward from democracy.

‘‘They do not know politics or international diplomacy,’’ Erdogan told a rally in Istanbul. ‘‘These Nazi remnants, they are fascists,’’ he added, as the crowd booed.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called it ‘‘a crazy remark, of course. But I understand they are angry but this is of course way out of line.’’

Erdogan told a rally in Istanbul: ‘‘You can stop our foreign minister’s plane all you want, let’s see how your [diplomatic] planes will come to Turkey from now on.’’ Cavusoglu also referred to possible sanctions, and Rutte said consultations under such threats were impossible, forcing him to bar the visit.

The government said it withdrew the permission because of ‘‘risks to public order and security,’’ causing Cavusoglu to say: ‘‘So is the foreign minister of the Turkish republic a terrorist?’’

He added that ‘‘we will give them the response they deserve.’’

In the evening, a Turkish foreign ministry official who spoke on customary anonymity said the Dutch Embassy in Ankara and its consulate in Istanbul were closed off because of security reasons.

The official said entries and exits were closed to the two locations. Similar precautions were taken at the Dutch charge d'affaires’ house and the ambassador’s residence.

The diplomatic row comes at a time when relations between Turkey and the European Union, of which the Netherlands is a member, have been steadily worsening, especially in the wake of Erdogan’s actions since last year’s failed coup. More than 41,000 people have been arrested and 100,000 civil servants fired from their jobs.