The Turkish president returned to the postponement of the match between Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe scheduled for this Friday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday minimized the consequences of the postponement at the request of the Saudi organizers of the Turkish Football Super Cup which was to be played the day before in Riyadh.
The match was to be between two clubs from Istanbul, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, but it was postponed at the last minute, the Saudi organizers having refused to allow the players to wear jerseys with “political slogans”, according to Saudi and Turkish media.
Both teams wanted to warm up wearing jerseys bearing the image of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, to celebrate the centenary of the Turkish Republic, Turkish media reported.
Faced with the refusal of the Saudi organizers, the two teams as well as the Turkish Football Federation decided to postpone the match.
The Turkish FA has since faced criticism for allowing the match to be played in Saudi Arabia rather than Turkey.
For its part, the Turkish opposition party CHP, founded by Atatürk, accused the government of failing to defend Turkey’s honor. “No reproaches should be made to the clubs or the federation,” said CHP leader Ozgur Ozel. “The main culprit is Erdogan who made Atatürk the object of bargaining.” But during a ceremony in Istanbul on Saturday, the latter responded that “everyone knows who defends the honor of Turkey and the Turkish people”. Making sport a political issue, he added, “is wrong, useless and serves no interest.”
Relations between Riyadh and Ankara hit a nadir after the assassination in 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, very critical of the Saudi regime. Their relations subsequently improved, and Erdogan made an official visit to Saudi Arabia in 2022. Saudi Arabia wants to establish itself as a superpower in world sport, thanks to investments in football but also motorsport, golf, horse riding or boxing. It has just organized the Club World Cup won by Manchester City and will host the Spanish Super Cup next month.
2023-12-30 22:40:39
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