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Turkish football clubs Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe returned home to an enthusiastic welcome from fans following their decision not to play in the Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia over a dispute involving Atatürk imagery, Deutsche Welle’s Turkish service (DW Türkçe) reported on Saturday.
The Super Cup, a match between the Super Lig champion and the Turkish Cup winner, was widely criticized for being planned outside Turkey during the republic’s centennial year.
The teams declined to play and returned to Turkey after rejecting Saudi officials’ refusal to allow them to wear shirts with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s picture and carry banners with his sayings during the match. The game was scheduled to honor the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic.
Fenerbahçe’s squad landed at Sabiha Gökçen Airport early in the morning to a large gathering of fans, who shouted slogans praising the team’s decision not to participate in the match. Club president Ali Koç, coach İsmail Kartal and players were enthusiastically greeted, with fans waving flags and chanting, “Turkey is proud of you.” Kartal expressed his gratitude to the fans for their support.
Meanwhile, Galatasaray was met at İstanbul Airport by hundreds of fans, holding flags and praising the team and coach Okan Buruk with similar chants of national pride.
The crisis began hours before the match on Friday when Saudi authorities disallowed the display of Atatürk-related items on the pitch. Despite lengthy discussions between Turkish Football Federation (TFF) President Mehmet Büyükekşi, club presidents Ali Koç and Dursun Özbek and Saudi officials, a resolution was not reached, leading to the cancelation of the match and its postponement to a later date.
The TFF stated that the match was postponed due to “some irregularities in the organization” in agreement with the clubs involved. The Saudi officials, responsible for the event, maintained that “international football rules and regulations do not allow slogans other than those related to the sport,” a stance reportedly discussed in preparatory meetings with the TFF.
The TFF has yet to announce when and where the rescheduled match will take place.