Stop calling stadiums arenas, orders Erdogan

RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN, Turkey’s president, has launched a crackdown on the word “arena”, calling on sports stadiums to stop using it because it is un-turkish.

Stressing the need for Turkey to develop its “own language”, Mr Erdogan said he was implementing a plan to banish the word “arena” from sports grounds.

“We are going to remove the word ‘arena’ from stadiums,” he said in a speech. “Of course you know what they used to do in arenas in the past? They would let people be shredded to pieces. We are going to remove the word ‘arena’ from stadiums.”

Mr Erdogan’s referemce is thought to be to ancient Roman arenas, in which gladiators were torn apart by animals for the amusement of crowds.

In Istanbul, the grounds of football teams Besiktas and Galatasaray were called the Vodafone Arena and Turk Telekom Arena respectively before the president’s pronouncement.