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Last minute.. He went to Greece for the friendly match to be played with Olympiakos as part of the preparations for the new season Galatasaray The convoy was met with a surprise attitude.
Greek authorities did not consider the PCR test performed by Galatasaray yesterday to be valid and made our representative wait for a while at the airport, citing it being held today.
FATIH TERIM REACTED
It was learned that after this attitude of the Greek authorities, Galatasaray Coach Fatih Terim got very angry and reacted.
CAFILE RETURNED TO ISTANBUL
After the developments, the Galatasaray team, which was kept at the airport for 2 hours and decided to return, landed at Istanbul Airport at 23.30.
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HERE IS GALATASARAY’S EXPLANATION;
In Athens, where we went to play a friendly match in a friendly atmosphere, a clear discrimination was made against a Turkish team with the incident that took place today. Going beyond the customary diplomatic practice between Turkey and Greece, PCR tests valid for 72 hours were not accepted in the international arena, a new test was requested, despite the fact that our coach, Fatih Terim, and some of our players behaved constructively for the test and took the relevant actions, they were treated in an extremely inappropriate and even arrogant manner. The difficulties raised continued to increase. We do not accept this attitude, practice and behavior of Greek customs personnel and security forces.
It is the first time that Galatasaray, which proudly carries the Turkish flag on its jersey and represents Turkey in Europe many times, has been subjected to such disrespect.
As the Board of Directors, as a result of the evaluations we made with our teacher, we have decided to return our team immediately. On behalf of our country, we expect an apology from the Greek authorities and officials for this violation of human rights.
During this period, we would like to thank all the State Institutions and officials of the Republic of Turkey, especially our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who did not leave us alone from the first moment of the incident, were in contact with our convoy, and tried to solve the problem through friendly and diplomatic means.
It is announced to the public with respect.
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THEY WERE HOLD AT THE DOOR
The yellow-red people, whose tests were not accepted and could not benefit from any service in the area they were in, were kept at the gate until the flight time.
BACK BY 22.30 FLIGHT
Reacting to the ugly attitude of the Greek authorities, Galatasaray arrived in Istanbul by plane departing from Athens at 22.30.
BURAK ELMAS: ‘WE WAITING FOR AN APPOINTMENT’
Galatasaray President Burak Elmas made a statement on his social media account, “As the Board of Directors, as a result of the evaluations we made with our teacher, we have taken the decision to return our team immediately. We expect an apology from the Greek authorities and officials on behalf of our country for this violation of human rights.” used his statements.
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REACTION FROM TFF
The Turkish Football Federation, on the other hand, said: “The behavior of the Galatasaray team, which went to Greece for the friendly match to play with Olympiakos, after they landed in Athens, despite fulfilling all the required procedures, is unacceptable. It condemns the attitude of the Greek authorities that does not suit the spirit of the sport, stands by our Galatasaray Sports Club. We state that we are,” he condemned.
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Burak Özügergin, Turkey’s Ambassador to Athens, went to the airport to support Galatasaray. The yellow-red club said, “Our Ambassador to Athens, Mr. Burak Özügergin, came to the airport to support our team against the unethical practice applied by the Greek authorities, and followed the process closely with our coach Fatih Terim.” made a statement.
STATEMENT OF GALATASARAY FROM MINISTRY OF FOREIGN SPEAKER BILGIC
“Galatasaray Football Team went to Athens by private plane today (12 July) to play a special match with Greece’s Olympiakos Football Team on the evening of 13 July 2021.
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It is far from being gentlemanly and in good faith that the PCR tests performed by our group and the results of which are negative are not considered valid and that the whole team is asked to retest.
Due to this arbitrary approach and ill-treatment, our team rightfully returned to our country without entering Greece.
The fact that Greece welcomes one of our country’s leading teams with such an attitude shows its intolerance towards our country, even in the field of sports.”
TALKED ABOUT ATHENS
Burak Özügergin, Turkey’s Ambassador to Athens, told TRT Spor what happened. Özügergin used the following statements:
We never thought that we would encounter such a problem. Neither Galatasaray’s first international friendly match, nor the first foreign team hosted by Olympiacos, nor coronavirus just came out. We’ve been living with it for 1.5 years.
They said we will do a random test, Fatih Hodja did not object, they even tested the teacher and he did not object. Before Fatih Hodja, a few players passed by waving their arms, and after a while they told everyone to do it. No, according to what?”
Was it worth what we went through? The reason for the systemic problem here was the arrival of a convoy from Turkey. This could happen to any of our teams. So the problem there was not yellow red, red was white!
EXPLANATION FROM FATIH TERIM
In his statement, Galatasaray Coach Fatih Terim said, “Both sides accept the test results, but they wanted a quick test from us. Even though we asked why, they said ‘we started to implement'”
“24 HOURS AGO WE ALL TESTED”
Headlines from Fatih Terim’s statements are as follows:
“As you can appreciate, Galatasaray is a club that knows the international rules very well. It is one of the clubs that has gained this experience the most, especially in all matches in Europe and the world. We were all tested 24 hours ago. We all went with the tests in our hands.
“THE BEHAVIOR IS NOT A FRIENDLY BEHAVIOR”
Both sides accept the test results, but they asked us for a quick test. When we asked why, they said ‘we have started to implement’.
Friendly matches are with friends. The behavior is not friendly. We thought our decision to return was the right one.
When we took our decision to return, our President, our Minister of Foreign Affairs, our Minister of Sports, our Ambassador and Consul General immediately reached us.
They asked for our passports. When we asked, they said they would deport it. We said that we would not give our passports. Our President has never lost his interest. I thank them endlessly. When you hear their voice, one feels very strong. If you ask any of our citizens, they have had problems there. We had not met before, but we did meet today. We did the right thing. Tomorrow we will do the same.
“KNOW WHERE IT HAS BEEN MADE”
I do not see this as something done to Galatasaray, it is clear where it was made. We are neither the people nor the club to bow to them.
“NO ONE CAN TREAT US WITH THIS ATTITUDE”
We go to Greece every year, and we will go again from now on. No one has Turkish hospitality. No one can treat us this way, no one. I would like to thank everyone who protects us, especially our President.”
ARDA TURAN: IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO STAY THERE
Galatasaray captain Arda Turan used the following statements about what happened:
“We try to show every time how much we pay attention to the health rules. Despite taking every precaution in Greece, we unfortunately encountered acts against human rights. More than half of us went to the bus, we were recalled from the bus.
TAVIRLARI IS RESPECTFUL
We tried to be constructive to the Greek authorities but their attitude was disrespectful. Our teacher tried to help them by keeping all his calm. A friendly match was supposed to be friendly, but this didn’t happen. We will continue to be friendly to everyone who comes to our country.
WHAT HAPPENED WAS SAD
We are not in favor of escalating such events, we are always in favor of peace. There is an agreement between our country and Greece, that PCR tests are accepted. After we went on the bus, the attitude there was not pleasant. We do not put anyone’s health in trouble, and we did not. What happened was sad.”
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