Playing ball and politics
ISTANBUL – Turkey and Greece know that a major threat to their joint bid to host the 2008 European Championship finals is that cooperation between the historic rivals might prove fragile. The pair are asking European soccer authority UEFA to gamble that bitter arguments over issues such as Cyprus will not spark a new outbreak of tension and that a joint tournament «on two continents» can help cement a tentative Aegean peace. «One threat may be an extreme breakdown of political ties between Greece and Turkey but, so far, that seems a remote possibility because the foreign ministers of both countries support this,» Sami Colgecen, Turkish coordinator of the joint bid, told Reuters yesterday. «They will use this to overcome their difficulties.» Turkey and Greece have centuries of conflict, controversial population exchanges and bitter struggles for control of the Aegean Sea. Devastating earthquakes in 1999 sparked a shift, however, and a process of talks began. The joint bid was born of that optimism. Both are confident they have the infrastructure to handle a tournament. Turkey has chosen four venues in three coastal cities, all hubs of a well-developed tourism industry that already has the first-class hotels and airports UEFA wants. Two fields in Istanbul are ready now. Izmir’s Ataturk Stadium will be upgraded at a cost of $30 million, while in Antalya, a stadium will be built for $50 million. The Turkish government will guarantee the money, Colgecen said. «No Turkish politician can afford to put obstacles in the way of football,» he said. Greece, currently preparing for the 2004 Olympic Games, will provide four more grounds. Istanbul would open the tournament and the final would be played in Athens. Happy that Turkey’s successful World Cup campaign has shown it is a serious soccer nation, Colgecen stresses the joint bid is not just based on international peace and brotherhood. Turkey’s 70 million people, he says, are a huge potential market for the commerce that comes with soccer and more than deserve a tournament. «If the issue is profitability and commerce then, without any doubt, UEFA should favor Turkey and Greece because… this is an untapped and hungry market,» he said. «We are virgin… In Switzerland all the kids there have already bought their Adidas T-shirts but in Turkey there are millions who haven’t even seen one yet.» The Greek-Turkish bid is one of seven. UEFA is due to make a final decision on December 14.
