POLITICS AND FOOTBALL DON’T MIX: TURKISH FOOTBALL TEAM DIYARBAKIRSPOR JEERED AT IN GAZIANTEP
Tert
Nov 2 2009
Armenia
Yesterday, during the Gaziantepspor-Diyarbakirspor Turkish football
tournament match, fans of host team Gaziantepspor began shouting
"PKK, out!"
PKK stands for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which the Turkish
leadership consider to be a terrorist organization. Diyarbakirspor, a
Turkish football team in Turkcell Super League, represents Diyarbakir,
a city in Turkey mainly inhabited by Kurds — unofficially, the Kurds’
centre in Turkey.
As reported by NTV TV station’s official website, this is not the
first case when Diyarbakirspor’s football players face such phrases,
which is very offending for them.
Diyarbakirspor Chair Cetin Sumer stated that unless the Turkish
Football Federation settles this problem, referring to justice and
principles of fair game, before the next tournament, his team will
no longer take part in the tournament, reports Turkish news source
Milliyet.
According to Milliyet, Sumer said, "Political slogans [against the
team] which started in Bursa and continued in Gaziantep have become
the beginning of the end. We will consult civil society organizations
in Diyarbakir about our decision."
Diyarbakirspor was defeated by Gaziantepspor 2-1, and presently is
the 14th among 18 teams in the standing. The team’s next match will
be with Galatasaray, which is the second in the championship.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
