‘Shameful’ attempt to stop TCs,
THE head of the Cyprus Turkish Football Association (KTFF) has branded as “shameful” an attempt by a UK-based Greek Cypriot lobby group to prevent Turkish Cypriot footballers from playing at a top tournament in London.
North Cyprus will compete at the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (Conifa) World Football Cup, which kicks off in the British capital on May 31, after qualifying for the tournament for teams that are not members of the sport’s official governing body, Fifa.
They are due to play three group stage matches at the Queen Elizabeth II Stadium in the north London borough of Enfield, an area home to large numbers of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
On Wednesday the Greek Cypriot-run National Federation of Cypriots in the UK wrote a letter of complaint to Enfield Council chiefs, which it shared on social media, claiming that allowing the games to go ahead would be “insulting” to the “Cypriot community”.
The letter, signed by the group’s leader Christos Karaolis, expressed “extreme disappointment” that a “council-owned stadium” was to host “the football team self-described as ‘Northern Cyprus’”.
KTFF president Hasan Sertoğlu, who first learnt of the move when asked for comment by Cyprus Today, said: “This is a shameful attempt and a real sign of animosity by the Greek Cypriots, who are trying at every step of the way to further isolate our youth.
“All we want is for young Turkish Cypriots to participate and enjoy sports.”
The letter prompted UK-based Turkish Cypriot and Turkish organisations to swing into action.
Mehmet Elitok, of the Turkish Football Federation (UK), said: “We will be writing to the authorities to point out that we stand fully behind KTFF and the right of Turkish Cypriots to participate.”
The Association of Turkish Cypriots Abroad’s UK representative, Mehmet Hussein, said: “We are taking this issue very seriously and are making representations to the appropriate authorities.
“[Enfield] Council cannot now ask Conifa to exclude any of the football teams . . . [or] there will be major protests by our community and Conifa will be entitled to compensation.”
A reply to the letter from Conifa’s official Twitter account said: “The [TRNC] flag isn’t ‘illegal’ at all. We celebrate Turkish Cypriots by giving them the freedom of choice who to represent.
“That’s not a political act for/against independence, it is just showing respect to the sheer existence of Turkish Cypriots. And we won’t stop doing so, sorry.”