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Turkey protests: ‘message received’ says President 04/06/2013 00:46 CET Clashes continue in Turkey 04/06/2013 05:55 CET Turkish solidarity protests spring up across Europe 03/06/2013 00:47 CET Turkey: Clean-up begins after weekend of riots 03/06/2013 11:26 CET Turkish PM blames extremists for anti-government… 03/06/2013 13:21 CETTurkey’s football fans have put their normal rivalries to one side and joined forces in supporting the ant-government protests in Istanbul.
Supporters of the “big three”, Besiktas, Fenerbahce and Galatasaray have led the way in forgetting their long established feuds.
Their weekly battles with police after matches are seen by many anti-government protesters as invaluable experience.
Several fans talked to euronews.
“If the main issue is the nation all other things are mere details. As my friends said we compete on the field. You can win or lose cups but the state of the nation is more important. If we don’t come together today when will we ?”
“Our fight is on the field. We are trying to show everyone that if we come together we are strong. We want to show the prime minister nobody can beat us. We are the Turkish Nation!” said a rival supporter.
The fans quickly swapped football chants to call for Turkey’s prime minister to quit.
They may see such unity as positive but government supporters view it as the solidarity of hooligans.
More about: Clashes and riots, Football, Istanbul, Turkey, Protest, Recep Tayyip ErdoganCopyright © 2013 euronews
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