FIFA: THE DECISION BANNING AZERBAIJANI FLAGS IN BURSA STADIUM IS CONNECTED WITH THE INSTRUCTION GIVEN BY THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT
APA
Oct 20 2009
Azerbaijan
Baku – APA. FIFA’s decision banning Azerbaijani flags in Turkey-Armenia
match is connected with the instruction given by the Turkish
government.
APA reports that Bursa governor has today made public the full text of
FIFA’s letter to the Turkish Football Federation. Turkish embassy sent
the letter to APA. In the letter FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke
says to the official representative of Turkish Football Federation
Ahmet Guvener.
"FIFA representatives in Turkey told us that the Turkish government
gave instruction to the Turkish Football Federation and the local
organizing committee in Bursa to distribute Azerbaijan’s national
flags to fans. FIFA’s commissar and FIFA security officer once more
says to the Turkish Football Federation and the local representation
in Bursa that such a planned action means violating article 3 of FIFA
regulations and article 26 of FIFA safety regulations and creating
serious safety problem. Therefore, we demand the Turkish Football
Federation to stop the action against Armenia. The flags distributed
among fans should be collected outside the stadium. Political
intervention in FIFA competitions is completely inadmissible and
we will praise your interference with it. We want you to take into
consideration that if the action with Azerbaijani flags will not stop,
FIFA can do nothing but cancel the match. The information about it
will be presented to FIFA appropriate committees for taking necessary
decisions," the letter said.
So, it turns out that FIFA passed the decision to ban Azerbaijani flags
in the stadium basing on the Turkish government’s instruction to the
federation and the local organizing committee to distribute flags to
the fans. But the Turkish government has not refuted the existence
of the instruction to FIFA or the public. Turkish officials and the
leadership of the federation did not state that in fact the decision
was passed basing on the Turkish government’s instruction "distribute
Azerbaijani flags among fans". Everybody knows that there is no such
an instruction. Actually, by keeping silence Turkey confirmed that
it was interested in giving incorrect information to FIFA and banning
Azerbaijani flags in the stadium.