Due to a last-minute cancellation, I have one ticket available for tonight's Euro2008 qualifying match between Turkey and Greece.

The venue is Ali Sami Yen Stadium in Mecidiyeköy, the section is 'Yeni Açik Alt' and the price is 20 ytl.

We plan to enter the stadium early although the match doesn't start until 20:30. Whoever would like the ticket must be able to meet me at the Taksim Metro at 18:00, or in front of the stadium at 18:15 to receive the ticket.

En büyük - Türkiye!

What a pity!
I was eager to go to match but couldn't find the ticket.
If i read your post earlier, i could be there with a big turkish flag

By the way, even though I m a big supporter of Turkish national team, I have to admit we didn't play better than Greece unfortunatelly...

*Greece deserved to win.

*It will be very hard for Turkey to beat Norway away next month. For those who don't know the present situation in the group......if Norway beats Turkey in Oslo in the next match, Turkey for sure will have failed to make it to the finals......if that match ends in a draw, then still, Norway will have a very high chance of qualifying (they will need only a point against Malta in their last match).

*I doubt there will be a manager change between now and the Norway match (I wish there was though !). I am not happy at all to see Terim in charge of the national team. However, if Turkey fails to qualify, then the chances are at least 90 percent that he will leave.

*As a Turkish person (and more importantly, as a humanist), I was very angry and ashamed to hear a large number of people booing the Greek national anthem yesterday. I shall be honest...from that moment on, I wanted Turkey to lose. There were other reasons for my wish.....such as the sickening display of nationalism (pre-match nationalistic speeches, nationalist chants and banners at the match). Nationalism in politics, world affairs, etc is already bad enough. At least, leave it out of sports, for f.ck's sake !

For those who might say there was the booing of the Turkish anthem in the match in Greece....yes, there was...it was done by a small number of Greek nationalists (ALL nationalists suckk in my opinion) but there, it seemed to get less and less as the majority there protested against this booing. And, also, anyway, if one party does something like that, it doesn't give justification to the other party to do this same thing.

*Congratulations to the Greek national team.

Cheers,

Cem

Firstly, considering your general aversion to facts, or intelligence, it is a pleasant surprise to see you talk at least a semblance of sense when it comes to the actual football.

With regards to the booing or whatever, sure, it was out of order, but, overall, the Turkish supporters behaved like saints compared to their Greek counterparts during the first leg. Anyone who fails to identify that has serious self-loathing issues. Spineless liberals like you give real liberalism a bad name.

The crowd had such a strange vibe at last night's match. The pre-game was filled with anti-PKK chants and there were signs in the stadium to the same effect. A German student who came with us and has just arrived, with the innoccence of a lamb asked, ''What does the PKK have to do with Greece?'' There was a palpable anger amongst the crowd and I began to question the wisdom of coming to the match with 10 yabancis. I thought I was being paranoid until a few police officers showed up and asked if any of us were Greek. When I said we were not, they said they were worried that other people wouldn't know that and that a police officer would stay with us in case there were any problems. The police officer did end up removing a guy who began to bother us (although he was just being generally obnoxious - not xenophobic). The police officer was professional and sincere and he gave us his name and station (Eyüp) and invited us for tea anytime.

When the match began it was rather anti-climatic. The crowd was under-enthused and it seemed that many people were not really there to watch football. I guessed the Turkish Football Federation had chosen Ali Sami Yen to try to create a more intimidating atmosphere, but my observation is the match last month against Hungary at Inönü was much more vocal.

Many of the supporters who were left at the end (many left after Greece scored) actually applauded the Greek side. I was very surprised and, I think, the Greek players were as well. They began to tentatively applaud back to the crowd and when they realized the applause was continued and sincere they began to lustily applaud us. The German students I was with were shocked - they couldn't believe the Turkish side was applauding the Greek team after tossing flares at them moments before. Welcome to the enigma of the collective Turkish psyche.

Were there flares at the end of the game? I didn't see any on the telly. Omer, who was also at the game, says he does not recall any flares during the actual match itself, either.

I was not surprised that those who stayed behind applauded the Greeks. It happens in many of the "big" games that we lose. The crowd boos the Turkey team (which they also did last night, apart from cheering on Aurelio, which was, actually, damning him with faint praise), and applauds the opponents. And then they usually thrash the place.

To be honest, I had been more nonplussed by the events of the Switzerland game than I was with last night's seemingly amicable climax.

But, going back Cheers Cem's original comment, last night's game was a tranquil Sunday in Chipping Norton compared to the game in Athens last spring.

We were at the end of the stadium leading to the players' locker rooms. After the match flares were thrown in that direction as the teams began to leave the field. In hindsight, maybe they were aiming for the Turkish staff? There was another flare tossed from the section above us (yeni açik üst) in the dying minutes of the game.

It was nothing compared to the Switzerland match but, to be fair, the worst of the troubles with the Switzerland match did not originate with the crowd, rather the players and some unsavoury characters who had access to the field/tunnel/changing rooms, etc.

True.

And I was thinking about this comment of yours during my run at lunch, B:



It seems to be rooted in alternating bouts of melancholy, nostalgia, and megalomania respectively, no?

I believe Orhan Pamuk has done a good of job as any in statements made in some of his novels. I also enjoy this summary from the author David Hotham:

"The Turk is unusually full of contradictions. Not only has he East and West in him, European and Asian, but an intense pride combined with an acute inferiority complex; a deep xenophobia with an overwhelming friendliness and hospitality to strangers; a profound need for flattery with an absolute disregard for what anybody thinks of him."

Spot on.

[quote user="Arikan" post="102553"]Firstly, considering your general aversion to facts, or intelligence, it is a pleasant surprise to see you talk at least a semblance of sense when it comes to the actual football.

With regards to the booing or whatever, sure, it was out of order, but, overall, the Turkish supporters behaved like saints compared to their Greek counterparts during the first leg. Anyone who fails to identify that has serious self-loathing issues. Spineless liberals like you give real liberalism a bad name.[/quote]

'Out of order', eh ? That is quite a 'light' adjective to be used....I prefer 'disgusting' or 'shameful'.....but I am glad that at least you see it as 'negative' !

Nationalism, especially in the forms expressed here in Turkey very recently (and also many times before) regarding the Turkey-Greece match should have NO place whatsoever in sports.

Arikan...insulting others in the forum (or ok...let me say 'semi-insulting' others) won't get you anywhere. So, I am a 'spineless liberal', eh ? Well, I don't really identify myself as 'liberal' (if I did, I would say so). I, as a humanist, anti-fanatical and anti-chauvinist Turk, am sick of nationalism and fanaticism. Ok...this is the sports section of the forum so I will stick to only the sports side here : I am sick of reading about Turkish stadiums and the atmosphere before/during/after matches in Turkey being described as 'hostile'....I am sick of groups of fans taking pride in themselves in seeing other groups of fans as 'enemies'.....I am sick of the 'I can die for you' 'I can kill for you' banners/attitude in sports....I am sick of politics and current events being dragged into sports (eg. as if Turkey beating Greece would help in any way in dealing with the PKK terrorism issue)....and I am sick of 'Hey....the Greeks (the British, etc) did bad things too at such and such match....why don't you criticise them too ?' atttiude. I DO criticise them too if/when I have time and energy to write about them. However, I live here in Turkey and I am a Turkish citizen so my proirity is the stuff that has got to do with here.

So....some Turkish fans applauded the Greeks, eh ? Big deal....the important thing is not to be hostile to the visiting team (eg. not to boo their national anthem); applauding them after they win is just a bonus regarding fair play.

I hope the UEFA starts to punish teams whose fans boo national anthems.

Turkey-Switzerland match.....oh , well...Turkey shouldn't have gotten away with just a ''3-match closed doors' ban after such disgraceful scenes/events.

I was/am happy that Greece beat Turkey yesterday....not just because of the booing, scenes, banners, etc. of yesterday but because, sadly, the success of the national team here seems to increase chauvinism (that is already present here in many areas/aspects of life at a significant dose). So, I sincerely hope that Turkey won't go to the Euro 2008 finals.

So...anything more you wanna say on this issue, Mr. Arikan ?

Cheers,

Cem

Cheers Cem, there is nothing for me to respond to in your diatribe of self-indulgent autophobia, which is so vitriolic that I fear it might be a medical condition. Your posts bring to mind images of gangs of hysterical Turks on the pitch (bedecked in curly slippers, and scimitars, obviously), disemboweling the Greek team, all the while raping their mothers and skinning their dogs.

Your liberal, or humanist, guilt is pathetic, and has absolutely no bearing on what really happened. None. In fact, you are as bad as all those ultra-nationalist fuckwits you so abhor. It just happens that you advocate the totally opposite view with the same blind intensity, which doesn't make you a wonderful humanist - it makes you a fcuking idiot! So, sell Sandalista somewhere else. We're all stocked up here.

I was expecting such a post from you.

I can only smile...I won't sink down to your level. Once again, you provide no tangible or decent counter-argument.

I won't say you are a nationalist but you are a part of the 'Oh, no....some of us Turks did something bad again...how are we going to justify this behavior this time?' brigade. Sad !

Cem

Here is what happened:

- You, with all the intellectual range of a turnip, bitched about how last night's game was the worst thing that happened since Hiroshima.
- I, admittedly a far superior intellect (with Olympian good looks to boot), reasoned that, but for a small group of arseholes who booed the Greek national anthem (which, I am surprised, is not Zorba The Greek), the crowd behaved very well. And that it was nothing, NOTHING compared to the atrocious "welcome" Turkey got when they played Greece in Athens.
- You bitched further.
- I put you in your place.

Feel free, however, to interpret this particular conversation in any way you like.

FYI: I never insulted you. I might sound harsh, but that's only because I do not suffer fools gladly. Trust me - You will KNOW if, and when, I insult you.

at least Emre avoided any "arm gestures" last night.