Soccer game with England scares me

I had an appointment with Sven Goran Eriksson, England National team coach. The reason for my interview was his recent declarations. He had said, "Don’t go to Turkey, or you may die" to the fans who will come to the Turkey-England match on October 11.

I didn’t believe that a sportsman could say such a thing. If he said it, then there should be something wrong.

It seems the English Football Association and Eriksson were also disturbed by these words afterwards, and Eriksson apologised for his words to soften the strained atmosphere of the match.

Eriksson didn’t hide how faulty he behaved in making such a call for the fans. He frankly apologised to the Turkish public. He did the right thing.

Reactions from the public showed that they were also satisfied with this apology.

Eriksson said in short in the interview: "UEFA warned us. If fans are allowed to kick up a fuss again in the match, we could exclude England from the tournaments, they said. After that we tried to prevent the English fans to go to Turkey. For example, the Football Association didn’t book tickets. In such an atmosphere I claimed those words. I know this country, I spent holidays in this country, I know Turkish people, they are very hospitable. But sometimes some unexpected things could happen like this, I am very sorry…"

Let’s forget this incident
I think we should leave this bitter event here and forget Eriksson’s words now.

I saw that Eriksson felt really sad about the issue. From now on, there is no use in repeating this event all the time and in provoking the Turkish football fans this way.

We should keep in mind that UEFA closely follows the behaviour of Turkish fans as much as the English fans. In fact, Turkish fans are not among the most polite and calm fans in the world. So, if such an audience is provoked then it will be Turkey that pays the cost.

For these reasons, we as media workers and managers of both sides have great responsibility on the issue.

It will be a strained match
Eriksson and English Football Association officials are in efforts to decrease the tension before the match. But I’m still afraid of the match. We don’t have this tension alone, the English press and circles related to sports are also strained.

Now it’s our turn. Turkish Football Federation and Senol Gunes should also make declarations to soften the strained atmosphere.

OTTO SCHILLY

This treatment should be over

German Interior Affairs Minister Otto Schilly came to Ankara for one day and asked his Turkish counterpart strictly: You won’t torture Kaplan, will you?

I think there could not be another question degrading a country that much.

Could you imagine; A German court opposes the return of Kaplan to Turkey for he may be exposed to torture and the German interior minister who wants to get rid of Kaplan immediately demands a strong guarantee from his Turkish counterpart.

I wonder if Aksu replied: "We will definitely not expose him to torture, it’s for sure." God knows how sad he felt after that. He perhaps felt depressed for being the interior minister of a country that is not trusted and in which people are tortured.

But now, we have a chance to get out of such a situation.

If we adhere exactly to the Copenhagen criteria in the coming term, we may get rid of being labelled as ‘the country exposing its people to torture’. We will regain respect and we will be proud of ourselves. Otherwise, we will remain in the second league.