The calls came during a meeting held in İstanbul’s Maltepe district on Wednesday as part of the National Reconciliation Olympiads, organized by Coşkun Schools with the aim of reducing tension in all aspects of life, from families, schools and culture to traffic and sports.
Beşiktaş supporters group head Alen Markaryan and his Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray counterparts, Sefa Kalyan and Sebahattin Şirin, were among those in attendance.
The meeting comes at an especially tense time in Turkish soccer. One month ago, a Diyarbakır-Bursaspor game was canceled in the 17th minute when Diyarbakırspor fans started throwing projectiles onto the field. In an earlier Bursaspor-Diyarbakırspor match held in Bursa in November, things turned ugly as a result of insulting slogans chanted by Bursaspor fans, causing the Diyarbakırspor club to consider withdrawing from the Super League. At all Diyarbakırspor matches, the slogan most frequently shouted by supporters of the rival team has been “PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party] out,” linking Diyarbakırspor with the terrorist PKK. In response to these recent events, supporters of the Big Three have appealed to Turkish soccer fanatics to maintain peace.
Mehmet Kıcıroğlu, the general manager of Coşkun Schools, said their aim is to spread peace all over Turkey. “We are planning to draft a roadmap to solve Turkey’s problems. We believe that as soon as all people reconcile with others, there will be no problems in Turkey,” noted Kıcıroğlu.
