Videos of Turkish Fans booing during the one minute silence for the victims of the Paris attack, observed before their match against Greece, have been going viral. One fan has gone on record to state that it was a big misunderstanding.
The Paris attacks, where more than 120 people were killed, have been a cause for mourning all over the world. The football world was also affected as one of the targets was the Stade De France where France was playing Germany, and a minute’s silence before the match had been observed during the friendlies taking place after the incident.
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One Big Misunderstanding
Videos of Turkish fans booing during the minute’s silence before their match against Greece has drawn criticism from around the world but Mustafa zsar , a Masters student at Anadolu University, has stated that it is a big misunderstanding. Here’s what he had to say.
“Let it be clear: In Turkey (especially at football matches) a one minute silence is always used to chant for those who died in terrorist attacks.”, said zsar , according to 101greatgoals.com.
“And what they are chanting is this a Azehitler lmez, vatan b lA?nmeza . Translation: a Martyrs, they do not die (they are immortal), homeland (land, our land) is indivisible.a
“That is a habit from our past with the terrorist organisation PKK. More than 30,000 of our citizens died over the past 30 years by the PKK (including babies, women, children, teachers, officers, doctors, students and soldiers).
“And also, they booed the terrorist, not the victims. Any victims of terrorism are accepted as martyrs in Turkish culture. There is no disrespect to them, there has not been, there will not be.”
Different Ways of Mourning
The reports by the media have so far been negative towards the Turkish fans with some even going so far as to say that chants of ‘Allahu Akbar’ were heard during the silence, which according to the above explanation is a blatant display of Islamophobia.
zsar ‘s explanation provides much-needed context to the supposedly meaningless act of ‘hate’ carried out by Turkish fans, for whom shouting the slogan has been a method of mourning even in the past.