Tweet
ARMENIAN ATHLETES RECEIVE POOR WELCOME IN TURKEY
Armenian Weekly
Aug 2, 2011
TRABZON, Turkey (A.W.)-The European Youth Olympics Festival opened
in Trabzon, Turkey on July 24, with 3,000 athletes joining from all
over Europe, including Armenia. Some 49 countries are represented at
the event, but not all received the same welcome.
Young athletes from Armenia and Israel were booed by local spectators.
At the wake of the deadly events in Norway, the crowd held a moment
of silence in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack of June 22.
However, what one Turkish journalist noted was the hatred in the air
towards the Armenian and Israeli athletes.
"Yes, there was a moment of silence for those murdered in Norway
and all other victims of terrorism," wrote Murat Yetkin, a Hurriyet
columnist, "but the young athletes from Armenia and Israel were booed
by local spectators because of the political and cultural atmosphere."
"Yet, due to the decades-long cultural pollution as a result of
indoctrination going back to the years of the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire, the traces of the atmosphere of hatred is still around,"
he added.
Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was among the 30,000
spectators.
Armenian Weekly
Aug 2, 2011
TRABZON, Turkey (A.W.)-The European Youth Olympics Festival opened
in Trabzon, Turkey on July 24, with 3,000 athletes joining from all
over Europe, including Armenia. Some 49 countries are represented at
the event, but not all received the same welcome.
Young athletes from Armenia and Israel were booed by local spectators.
At the wake of the deadly events in Norway, the crowd held a moment
of silence in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack of June 22.
However, what one Turkish journalist noted was the hatred in the air
towards the Armenian and Israeli athletes.
"Yes, there was a moment of silence for those murdered in Norway
and all other victims of terrorism," wrote Murat Yetkin, a Hurriyet
columnist, "but the young athletes from Armenia and Israel were booed
by local spectators because of the political and cultural atmosphere."
"Yet, due to the decades-long cultural pollution as a result of
indoctrination going back to the years of the collapse of the Ottoman
Empire, the traces of the atmosphere of hatred is still around,"
he added.
Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was among the 30,000
spectators.