Hidden Crisis in Eurovision

The crisis erupted during rehearsals. When the connection was made, Turkish announcer Korhan Abay corrected the words of his Greek Cypriot addressee on the line who said “Hello Constantinople” and he said “Beautiful Istanbul of the last 500 hundred years”.

The persistence of the Greek Cypriot announcer continued in the second rehearsal. Upon this persistence, Abay responded as “Hello Southern Cyprus! ”.

The "Istanbul crisis” was conveyed to P.M. Erdogan. Later on the Eurovision authorities warned the Greek Cypriot announcer.