Tickets for Armenia -Turkey game were distributed to mainly soldiers, police officers and students
The football match between Turkey and Armenia was definitely a historic event but for all the non-football reasons.
The 2010 World Cup qualifying group game means little for both teams, who both lost their hopes to qualify for the tournament in South Africa, but the match will still be remembered as a perfectly timed affair along the countries' path to normalization.
This political background gave the football match another edge. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan arrived in Bursa on Wednesday afternoon to pay his first visit to Turkey. Last year, Turkish President Abdullah Gül visited Yerevan for the two teams' first game.
A controversial aspect of the game is that some parties opposing to the normalization process will use it to voice their discontentment and are expected to wave Azerbaijani flags during the game. Turkish Football Federation Chairman Mahmut Özgener recalled a FIFA ruling that bans political messages during football games but said the final call will be with the Bursa Governorship.
On Tuesday, Bursa Gov. Şahabettin Harput declared: "Using Azerbaijani flags or anything to try to take this game and turn it into a political event will not be allowed." But there were still people selling Azerbaijani flags, and some police officers said they would allow Azerbaijani flags in since they were not given directives otherwise.
But for most football fans in Bursa, the game is not about protesting or hailing the Turkish-Armenian normalization. Frankly, they may be the only ones seeing this as nothing but a football game.
As for how the city built up to the game, it can be easily said that the people in green jerseys outnumbered the ones in red. Most of the fans made it to the stadium with their green and white shirts of local team Bursaspor instead of Turkish national outfit jerseys. Of course, they were the lucky minority that could find a ticket for the game. There were not many to be found, but not because they were sold out: They were not sold at all.
The tickets for game at the 17,000-capacity Bursa Atatürk Stadium were reportedly distributed to mainly soldiers, police officers and students to minimize the risk of trouble in the game. The ticket scheme was not confirmed by officials, but it was undeniable that with only hours left before kick off, most fans in Bursa still did not have a clue where the tickets were, hurriyetdailynews.com reported.
The 2010 World Cup qualifying group game means little for both teams, who both lost their hopes to qualify for the tournament in South Africa, but the match will still be remembered as a perfectly timed affair along the countries' path to normalization.
This political background gave the football match another edge. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan arrived in Bursa on Wednesday afternoon to pay his first visit to Turkey. Last year, Turkish President Abdullah Gül visited Yerevan for the two teams' first game.
A controversial aspect of the game is that some parties opposing to the normalization process will use it to voice their discontentment and are expected to wave Azerbaijani flags during the game. Turkish Football Federation Chairman Mahmut Özgener recalled a FIFA ruling that bans political messages during football games but said the final call will be with the Bursa Governorship.
On Tuesday, Bursa Gov. Şahabettin Harput declared: "Using Azerbaijani flags or anything to try to take this game and turn it into a political event will not be allowed." But there were still people selling Azerbaijani flags, and some police officers said they would allow Azerbaijani flags in since they were not given directives otherwise.
But for most football fans in Bursa, the game is not about protesting or hailing the Turkish-Armenian normalization. Frankly, they may be the only ones seeing this as nothing but a football game.
As for how the city built up to the game, it can be easily said that the people in green jerseys outnumbered the ones in red. Most of the fans made it to the stadium with their green and white shirts of local team Bursaspor instead of Turkish national outfit jerseys. Of course, they were the lucky minority that could find a ticket for the game. There were not many to be found, but not because they were sold out: They were not sold at all.
The tickets for game at the 17,000-capacity Bursa Atatürk Stadium were reportedly distributed to mainly soldiers, police officers and students to minimize the risk of trouble in the game. The ticket scheme was not confirmed by officials, but it was undeniable that with only hours left before kick off, most fans in Bursa still did not have a clue where the tickets were, hurriyetdailynews.com reported.
