ZCZC
BSP-17
FBL-EURO-2020-FRA-TUR-SECURITY-DIPLOMACY
Tension ahead of France-Turkey Euro showdown
SAINT-DENIS, France, Oct 13, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – France host Turkey in a
crunch Euro 2020 qualifier on Monday with the teams vying for top spot in
Group H and diplomatic tension simmering between the two nations after
Turkey’s bombardment of Syrian Kurds this week.
With three games to go in the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign the sides have
18 points each ahead of Monday’s showdown at the Stade de France but Turkey
top the group on the head-to-head rule after their 2-0 defeat of Les Blues in
Konya in June.
French striker Olivier Giroud says the 2018 world champions “want to put
that right (the defeat), as a matter of pride because of what happened over
there”.
France will be missing two key players in Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba,
who are both injured, and will be hoping Barcelona recruit Antoine Griezmann
can refind his sharpest form.
Looming large over the game, however, will be security issues and
international diplomatic relations as France decried Turkish military
interventions in Syria this week and blocked arms sales to them.
European soccer chiefs UEFA are already looking into reports that Turkey
footballers performed a military salute in celebration of Cenk Tosun’s last-
gasp winning goal over Albania in Istanbul on Thursday.
After the match, a photo was also posted on the official Twitter account
with players making a military salute and a text saying the players “have
dedicated their victory to our brave soldiers and fellow martyrs”.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan can often be seen at football
matches and has taken many photo calls with top soccer stars, and on Monday
evening his foreign minister and sports minister are due to attend the match.
Some 3,800 Turkish fans should be in the 78000 sell out crowd on Monday
for a match where a win for France would signal a spot in the finals while
Turkey are still under threat from Iceland, who they play in November.
At any event at the Stade de France security is always impressively tight
but Turkey’s last visit to France in 2009, where their famously passionate
fans threw flares onto the pitch in Lyon, the police have announced ramped up
measures on orders from the government to assure security ahead of and
following the game in what they have qualified as a high risk event.
On November 13, 2015 – the night of a series of terror attacks which
killed 130 people – security prevented a suicide bomber from entering the
stadium during the France v Germany match which was being watched by French
President Francois Hollande.
The bomber and two other suicide bombers set off their bombs outside the
ground, killing themselves and one bystander.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1825 hrs