By Andrew Warshaw
November 25 – Football re-unification between Greek and Turkish Cypriots has moved a further step closer with the official Cyprus Football Association (CFA) approving the historic arrangement signed by the two sides at FIFA headquarters earlier this month.
The CFA’s general assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of the so-called “Temporary Arrangement for Football in Cyprus” with 12 clubs in favour, two against and three abstentions.
The CFA has not identified those who voted against in the secret ballot but it has not all been plain sailing for CFA president Costakis Koutsokoumnis (pictured) who has been accused by some fans of selling out. Supporters of APOEL Nicosia unfurled a giant banner at a Europa League match on November 7, translated from the Greek as “Turko-koumnis…don’t forget 40 years of occupation”.
Nevertheless, addressing the CFA general assembly, UEFA vice-president Marios Lefkaritis, Honorary President of the CFA, congratulated the leadership for the way in which it had handled negotiations with the Turkish Cypriots. He stressed Cypriot football had nothing to fear from the agreement.
The deal was struck after months of sensitive negotiations aimed at ending decades of mistrust and disunity between the respective footballing communities on the divided Mediterranean island.
The summit at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, which was long in the planning but was stalled because of disagreements over the wording of the documentation, was attended by both Koutsokoumnis and his opposite number, Cyprus Turkish Football Association Cyprus Turkish FA President Hasan Sertoğlu, whose organisation in the breakaway north is not officially recognised but which will now play a decisive role in attempts to unify football on the island.
Just like on the Greek side, there are pockets of loyalists in the north who favour Turkish Cypriot clubs being allied to the Turkish league rather than have anything to do with the Greek Cypriots. But in what is regarded a hugely significant move backing the recently signed arrangement, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s welcomed football’s attempts to make progress.
“Recently, the football federation of northern Cyprus and the southern Cyprus football federation signed an agreement to represent the whole island and participate in international football competitions as one team. I would like to see the positive impact of this step in the political process also,” he was quoted as saying.
Erdogan’s comments have been interpreted as the Turkish regime supporting the CFA-CTFA process rather than pro-Turkey nationalists, who represent around 25% of the population in northern Cyprus and oppose the recently signed deal.
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