Press Releases

Arsenal and FA score own goal over racism with Emirates Flag Ban - 13 February 2007

London, 13 February 2007: Human rights group Embargoed! has slammed Arsenal Football Club and the English Football Association (FA) for failing to condemn the recent “igreek” petition to ban the North Cyprus flag at the Emirates stadium. The petition, which contained hundreds of abusive comments including death threats to Turks/Turkish Cypriots and offensive remarks about Islam, resulted in the banning of all national flags at the stadium. Embargoed! says, “Their action is a betrayal of their pledge to ‘kick racism out of football’ and simply allows racists to triumph. Flagship clubs like Arsenal should set an example to the rest of the sport and refuse to be dictated to by the actions of bigots."

An online petition launched by members of “igreek.co.uk” to ban the flying of the national flag of Turkish Cypriots generated worldwide support from fellow Greeks, who see North Cyprus as “illegally occupied” due to Turkey’s 1974 forced intervention and partition of the island following a Greece-backed coup. 9,899 people signed the petition in a matter of weeks, prompting a meeting with Arsenal FC’s managing director Keith Edelman. From the 8,172 postings analysed by Embargoed!, one third left comments and of these, over 650 (one fifth) were deemed abusive, threatening or racially offensive. These included, “Death to the Turkish dogs”, “barbarian Turks”, “Allah is Gay”, “F*ck the Koran”, and “the next terrorist target to be emirates stadium”, which breach UK public order, race and religious hate laws.

Prior to making their decision to ban all flags, Arsenal’s MD Edelman also met with Turkish Cypriot Mete Ahmed – the Arsenal fan whose North Cyprus flag triggered the controversy – and Embargoed! Campaigns and Communications Officer Ipek Ozerim. In the meeting, Edelman described the petition organisers as “reasonable people”, a claim contested by Embargoed! in view of the extreme nature of some of the website contributions including those from the petition organisers. It has led to Embargoed! and other community groups to dub Arsenal’s flag ban as “a victory for racists”.

“The sheer volume of hatred on the ‘igreek’ petition is shocking and alarming. If it was a barometer of feelings on Turks, then racism is endemic within the Greek and Greek Cypriot community. It is totally unacceptable for Turkish and Turkish Cypriots to have to endure this.” said Levent Hassan, Spokesperson for the Federation of Turkish Associations UK (FTA UK).

Arsenal, which had originally decided to keep the North Cyprus flag up after consulting with lawyers and the Home Office, subsequently reversed its decision following the mass action by Greek Cypriots and its concern for safety at the stadium. In an effort to avoid discriminating against any ethnic group, the club decided to impose a blanket ban on all national flags, a policy which in effect discriminates against Turkish Cypriots and other football fans.

A joint statement issued by Haringey councillors John Oakes and Fiyaz Mughal said, “We do not want to see a new Green Line being created in Green Lanes. The Cyprus conflict is decades old and it is totally unacceptable for bigots to try and re-ignite it here in the UK, a country which tries hard to welcome all races and religions." They continued, “We call on Arsenal to uphold its global reputation as a multi-racial, family club and ignore these racists. Bring back the flags – all of them. The club’s blanket ban does not bode well for community cohesion; it dodges the fundamental issues. Political conflicts can only be resolved through constant dialogue and social contact, while racism has to be condemned, wherever it comes from, for the good of society.”

Embargoed! has asked the club to review its decision and in a letter to the FA, requested it takes steps “to remedy the considerable distress and offence caused to the Turkish/Turkish Cypriot community by this racist petition” and to help overcome “Arsenal's unwillingness to engage more positively on this issue”. Arsenal has yet to respond to Embargoed!, while the FA’s response claimed that it had “recently received a complaint from the Greek Cypriot community because they had seen the Turkish Cypriot flag displayed in the Arsenal stadium. As a result of the sensitivities around this issue Arsenal (sensibly in our view) decided to ban this flag, but they could only reasonably do this by banning all national flags from the stadium.”

“A few weeks ago, calling an Indian “poppadom” caused an international outcry. Here we have lifelong Arsenal fan Mete the victim of racial bullying simply for taking pride in his ethnic roots. He displayed the North Cyprus flag – which is his legal right – and it has resulted in verbal abuse, including death threats, while racist comments on the ‘igreek’ petition have offended us all. Yet neither Arsenal nor the FA seems interested. It makes you wonder how serious they are about stamping out racism in football – clearly this is not a concern if it targets Turks or Turkish Cypriots. They should hang their heads in shame.” claimed Embargoed! chairman Bulent Osman.
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Notes to editors


Details about the “igreek.co.uk” petition
*Embargoed! was only able to analyse 8,172 of 9,899 possible signatories as the petition was taken offline before the remainder could be downloaded.

Embargoed!’s analysis threw up the following disturbing trends:
• There were 29 extreme comments/threats made against Turks including “The Best Turk is a Dead Turk”, a phrase repeated 18 times
• There were 51 posts that likened the North Cyprus flag and/or Turks to a Swastika, Al Qaeda, the Taliban, the IRA or HAMAS
• 25 people ordered the North Cyprus flag be burnt
• 23 comments demanded all ‘Turks out of Cyprus’, while a further 125 stated that ‘Cyprus is Greek’ – including the petition organizer

The petition was hosted at: http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?cy1974

Copies of the full petition and summaries are available in electronic format on request from Embargoed! – this is not being circulated due to the inflammatory nature of the petition postings.

The initial stories about Mete Ahmed and his flag can be viewed on the Embargoed! website: http://www.embargoed.org/external_news_events.php?id=82 and http://www.embargoed.org/press_releases.php?id=89

About Embargoed! – www.embargoed.org
Embargoed! is an independent human rights group campaigning for the immediate and unconditional end to all embargoes against North Cyprus. The group was launched on 4 March 2005 and aims to play an active role in raising awareness about the plight of North Cyprus and to lobby world leaders and institutions to restore the fundamental political, economic and social rights of the Turkish Cypriot people.

Contact Embargoed!:• Email: mail@embargoed.org
• Telephone/fax: + 44 (0)20 8279 8561
• Post: Embargoed! Suite 205, 14 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 1JY

Press Enquiries:
Ms. Ýpek Özerim T: +44 (0)777 623 0466 E: ipekh@excite.com


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