Category: Sport

NBA Game Promises to Be a Turkey? Call In the Turks—or the Filipinos

By JOEL MILLMAN

Donald Weber for The Wall Street Journal HERITAGEToronto fans turned out for Jewish Heritage day featuring the Sacramento Kings’ Israel-born Omri Casspi.

LOS ANGELES—Salih Eroglu prepared carefully for the Los Angeles Clippers’ big day-after-Christmas basketball game.

The 33-year-old gathered Turkish baklava pastries, sparkling “evil eye” pendants and sunflower seed snack packs. He ordered 1,000 red “Turkiye” baseball caps and 1,000 T-shirts emblazoned with images of Hedo Turkoglu, Istanbul-born forward of the visiting team, the Phoenix Suns.

On hand, too, were Turkish dancing girls, a Turkish pop star to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and raffle stubs for an airline ticket to Istanbul. In short, Mr. Eroglu had everything for a successful Turkish heritage event—an occasion meant to boost attendance for the Clippers, one of the National Basketball Association’s worst-drawing teams.

“We were really, really ready,” says Mr. Eroglu, an engineer who organizes the annual Turkish event.

Across the NBA, teams with losing records like the L.A. Clippers are turning to events like Turkish Heritage night to fill seats. WSJ’s Joel Millman reports.

Except for one thing. Just before the event, Phoenix sent the Turkish fans’ favorite Sun—the 31-year-old Mr. Turkoglu—to the Orlando Magic. The move left hundreds of ticket holders without a countryman to root for.

It’s that time of year in the NBA: the deep winter slog when teams with losing records search far and wide for gimmicks to fill seats. That’s why many teams are drumming up “Heritage” events, meant to court even the smallest émigré enclaves to NBA courts, and provide just a tad of buzz—and a souvenir trinket or two—to pump up attendance.

Salih Eroglu

The Toronto Raptors have Filipino Night set for early next month, arriving on the heels of Serbian, Jewish and Chinese nights in January.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are hosting both an Israeli Heritage and a Jewish Heritage event, with a Canadian Heritage Night teed up for late January and a German Heritage night for March.

The Golden State Warriors’ Latino Night is on Jan. 28, after the team held events saluting fans from Iran and China.

Heritage events became popular in the U.S. about a decade ago, when the NBA began signing more talent from overseas. Currently, there are 86 foreign-born players in the NBA.

Pitching ethnicity is an easy win for clubs that don’t typically draw big crowds. With 41 games on a team’s home schedule, most won’t sell out. Weak opposing teams can further dash hopes for a strong turnout. But by focusing on visiting ethnic players, heritage events can generate interest, raising the odds of higher ticket sales. With the right plans—such as special foods and autograph signings with the star player—some teams say they can fill as many as 2,000 additional seats.

But heritage events can be tricky. Many NBA rosters aren’t intact long enough to justify an ethnic night based on a particular athlete—thus, for example, creating Turkish events without a Turkish player.

Still, many teams continue with their heritage proceedings even without the ethnic player slated to showcase the event. “1,300 tickets, and counting,” exulted Toronto Raptors’ media director Jim LaBumbard in anticipation of a Jan. 14 Serbian event arranged to show off Raptors player Peja Stojakovic. This, despite Mr. Stojakovic’s absence from the roster since late November due to a knee injury.

The biggest heritage star this season is 6-foot-9 Omri Casspi, Israel’s lone NBA representative, who plays small forward for the Sacramento Kings. Despite having one of the NBA’s worst records, the Kings are a touring sensation this year, packing arenas with Jewish fans eager to greet the lanky Israeli.

“I meet a lot of kids who get tickets to a Kings game as a bar mitzvah present,” says the 22-year-old Mr. Casspi, who adds he’s also fielded several offers of marriage as he tours NBA arenas.

This month, Mr. Casspi’s Kings lured Jewish fans in Toronto, Washington, Boston and Atlanta. Fans at the Washington Wizards game got Wizards yarmulkes in conjunction with Mr. Casspi’s appearance last week. Organizers at the Atlanta and Boston games provided kosher foods at concession stands.

While a pre- or post-game opportunity to meet with players like Mr. Casspi drives ticket sales, there’s no guarantee that players will oblige. “He’s done more than his share,” says Troy Hanson, the Kings’ spokesman. “We just had to say no to some teams.”

Some NBA teams have found a safer bet is to showcase others, such as ethnic coaches and retired players—thus eliminating any risk of a celebrity no-show. Raymond Townsend, who last played in the NBA in 1981, has been making a comeback of sorts hosting Filipino Heritage events across the NBA.

“When I played, people thought I was just one of the lighter-skinned NBA players with an Afro. No one knew I was Filipino,” says the 55-year-old former Indiana Pacers guard, son of an African-American father and a mother born in Batangas, Philippines.

Two seasons ago, Mr. Townsend returned to NBA courts as a packager of Filipino Heritage events, starting with the Golden State Warriors and the Clippers in California.

“Who knew there were 300,000 Filipinos in Los Angeles? I sure didn’t,” says Carl Lahr, the Clippers’ vice president for marketing.

Mr. Eroglu began organizing the Clippers’ Turkish events in 2003 while running the Turkish students association at the University of Southern California. “We’ve tried to do Turkish Night at Lakers games, but it’s so hard to get seats together,” he says of the city’s more successful team and current NBA champion.

Back then, Mr. Eroglu says, he might sell 50 tickets to a Clippers game. Nowadays, Turkish events routinely bring over a thousand fans, even when the star player can’t be there. Indeed, December’s Turkey Day was only the second sell-out the Clippers enjoyed all season.

At that event, the Clippers didn’t offer ticket refunds after learning Mr. Turkoglu wouldn’t be attending. Instead, the team let every Turkish fan who bought a ticket to the Suns game return free on Dec. 29. The Clippers’ opponent that night: The Utah Jazz, which also features a Turk, Mehmet Okur.

Mr. Okur was injured during the game, but did manage to wave to Turkish fans before leaving the arena.

January 19, 2011
Turkey Withdraws as Host of European Women’s Chess Championship

By DYLAN LOEB MCCLAIN

In a letter posted on the Turkish Chess Federation’s Web site on Wednesday, Ali Nihat Yazici, the federation’s president, announced that Turkey had withdrawn as host of the European Women’s Chess Championship. It was to be held in March 2011 in Gaziantep, a city in the southeastern part of the country.

The prize fund was to be 104,000 euros (about $139,000 at current exchange rates), which would have exceeded the 101,000 euro prize fund ($135,000) for the overall European Championship, which will be held in Aix-les-Bains, France.

The reason given for Turkey’s withdrawal was a conflict between the federation and the European Chess Union, which has jurisdiction over the championship.

Yazici wrote that he tried to work out the details of organizing the championship with Sava Stoisavljevic, the general secretary of the E.C.U., but she insulted him and treated him in a condescending manner. He contacted Silvio Danailov, the president of the E.C.U., in an effort to resolve the problems, but he and the federation were “completely neglected.” So a decision was made to withdraw as the organizer.

In addition to the letter, Yazici published 13 documents of correspondence and proposals about the championship that were exchanged between the federation and the E.C.U. In the documents, there were several issues of contention regarding the contract between the two organizations.

The most significant were that the Turkish federation wanted to charge an organizing fee of 70 euros per player ($93.50), 120 euros for any player who chose not to stay at one of the two hotels reserved by the organizers ($160), and a late fee for anyone not registering by a deadline of Feb. 10.

Initially, Stoisavljevic countered that the first two fees were unacceptable and unprecedented. As to a late fee, she said that was also unacceptable, but suggested that the Turkish federation could bar late entries if it was concerned about possible additional hotel room costs, or accept them but not guarantee that players would be able to get rooms at the prearranged rates.

In a later e-mail, Stoisavljevic began by writing that Yazici had “double standards” in the negotiations. But she agreed to relent on all of the Turkish federation requirements, except the imposition of late fees.

Yazici replied that he felt “very much insulted,” and soon after Turkey withdrew as host of the championship, despite a letter from Danailov accepting all of the federation’s demands and requesting only that late entries not be accepted.

On the surface, the dispute seems to be over fees and the language of the contract between the E.C.U. and the Turkish federation, but there may be more to it than that.

Danailov and Yazici were opponents in a September election for the presidency of the E.C.U. and there may be lingering bad blood.

In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Danailov suggested that there may be a more important issue: The federation might have had trouble financing the championship. He said that the Turkish federation was supposed to put down a 7,500 euro ($10,000) deposit in May, but he said it was not done.

Then, six months before the event, in September, the federation was supposed to provide a 97,500 euro ($130,000) bank guarantee that the money for the prizes was available, but he said that also did not happen.

Danailov said of Yazici, “The guy was looking to withdraw somehow from the very beginning.”

In an e-mail, Stoisavljevic said that the initial tone of her e-mail and phone conversations with Yazici were friendly. She said it was only after she objected to the fees in the draft of the regulations for the championship that problems in the negotiations arose. She said that she regretted using the words “double standards” in one of her e-mails to Yazici and was willing to apologize for that. She also noted that in the end, in an effort to salvage the championship in Turkey, the E.C.U. had accepted all of the charges for the players, except for the late fee.

Danailov that he would look for a new host for the championship. He said he did not want to fight with Yazici or the Turkish federation. “We always try to find sponsors and sell chess. That is hard enough already.”

via Turkey Withdraws as Host of European Women’s Chess Championship – NYTimes.com.

January 2, 2011
Turkey considers hefty prison terms to stem violence, cheating in sports

Turkey is contemplating the introduction of hefty prison terms for hooligans, match-fixers and athletes taking performance-enhancing drugs.

The government this week submitted to parliament a set of draft proposals that foresee up to 12 years in prison for match-fixing or corrupt betting charges, four years for doping charges and up to three years for fans chanting obscenities and racial slurs.

The proposals, which aim to punish individuals involved in hooligan acts and not just the clubs, were available on parliament’s website Thursday.

If approved, fans attempting to bring guns, knives or other sharp objects to sports events face a yearlong jail term. Even those attempting to enter stadiums without tickets face prison terms, while convicted hooligans would be barred from travelling abroad.

The proposals were drafted more than a year ago but were put on the back burner as Turkey grappled with other pressing legislation.

Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan submitted the proposals to parliament this week. Erdogan was angered by two football-related incidents, including an attack on Fenerbahce players by Galatasaray fans during a men’s under-17 match in Istanbul on Sunday, private NTV television reported.

Earlier this month, two Bursaspor fans were stabbed and hospitalized and police used batons and tear gas to disperse crowds when street-clashes occurred prior to a Bursaspor and Besiktas league match.

The proposed changes were expected to come to the floor for debate before the start of the second half of the football season in late January.

Fans frequently light up flares, yell out obscenity-ridden slogans to taunt and intimidate opposition teams and referees. Switchblades, long knives used for cutting meat and even Samurai swords are sometimes smuggled into stadiums.

Two Leeds United fans were stabbed to death in Istanbul in 2000, marring Turkey’s reputation internationally.

The law aims to bring “love, peace and brotherhood” to sports, said retired two-time Olympic wrestler Hamza Yerlikaya, who is now a legislator from Erdogan’s Islamic-oriented party.

With the new bill, fans would purchase tickets using their government ID numbers, making it easier to track and punish troublemakers.

The draft bill also aims to tackle corruption in Turkish sports marred by bribes to players and fees paid to give teams incentive to defeat rivals. Individuals involved in such practices would be punished with between five and 12 years in prison while club officials and betting companies could get a maximum of 18 years.

Turkey is at the centre of a European match-fixing scandal, currently under investigation by police in Germany, in which 270 matches in at least nine domestic leagues and international competitions are under suspicion.

Associated Press writer Erol Israfil contributed to the report.

via Turkey considers hefty prison terms to stem violence, cheating in sports – The Globe and Mail.

January 1, 2011
Turk hackers avenge basketball riot

Basketball match between Apoel and Karşıyaka ends in violence. DHA photo

NICOSIA – Agence France-Presse

Turkish computer hackers targeted around 20 Greek Cyprus websites over the weekend, apparently in retaliation for an attack on a Turkish basketball team by Greek Cypriot fans, a police spokesman said Monday.

“Acting on information from the office for combating cyber-crime, it was observed that around 20 company websites hosted within the Cyprus Republic [Greek Cyprus] were illegally accessed by Turkish hackers,” said Michalis Katsounotos.

On some website homepages, the hackers inserted the emblem of basketball team Pınar Karşıyaka, the crescent moon of the Turkish flag, or the words “No Terrorism in Sport.“ A FIBA basketball cup match on Dec. 21 between hosts Apoel Nicosia and Turkey’s Pınar Karşıyaka ended in violence as 500 local rock-throwing fans clashed with police preventing them from confronting the Karsiyaka players.

Tear gas was used to disperse the crowd, while police cars ferrying reinforcements to the sports stadium were pelted with stones. Five officers received hospital treatment for minor cuts and wounds and three 15-year-old youths have been charged with assault, affray and illegal possession of dangerous weapons. Investigators are trying to identify more suspects from CCTV footage taken from the scene.

Katsounotos said no Karşıyaka team members were hurt, but a large police escort was used to shepherd the Turkish team back to their hotel and later to the divided island’s Larnaca international airport.

Turkey’s ambassador to Turkish Cyprus, Kaya Türkmen, lodged a protest with United Nations peacekeepers on the island and President Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader, slammed those involved in the attack as “brainless.”

A FIBA tribunal fined Apoel 40,000 euros and ordered them to play their next European home matches behind closed doors.

The Turkish basketball players returned home to the Aegean province of İzmir via Greece, because Greek Cypriot officials rejected Pınar Karşıyaka’s requests for security protection during the night.

They argued such a step would be tantamount to recognizing Turkish Cyprus, which is only recognized by Turkey. Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been divided since 1974, when Turkey sent troops into the north after a rebellion by Greek Cypriots who wanted to unify with Greece.

December 31, 2010
Turkey seeks response to Greek Cyprus hooliganism

FULYA ÖZERKAN

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey is readying to use legal and political channels to respond to attacks against Turkish basketball players during a match in Greek Cyprus. ‘Our first priority was to ensure the players’ safe return after the attack. That was done and the next step will be to bring the issue onto the international agenda,’ a diplomatic source says

Turkey is poised to take strong legal and political measures in pressing for an international response to an assault Tuesday night on a Turkish basketball squad by home-team fans during a match in Greek Cyprus.

“Our first priority was to ensure the players’ safe return after the attack. That was done and the next step will be to bring the issue onto the international agenda,” a diplomatic source told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review on Thursday.

Turkey will pursue legal channels by sending a letter of complaint to the world basketball governing body, while the government presses the United Nations and the European Union to take action. Ankara holds the U.N. Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus responsible for not taking sufficient security measures.

“We will, of course, complain to the United Nations both in Nicosia and New York because while our team’s initiative to play the match in Greek Cyprus was a [friendly] gesture, our players’ safety was not ensured,” the diplomatic source said. “Because Greek Cyprus is a member of the European Union we will also take initiative at the EU level.”

During a FIBA Eurochallenge game against Apoel in Nicosia on Tuesday night, players on Turkey’s Pınar Karşıyaka were severely attacked by hundreds of Apoel fans who threw objects at the team and charged the court after the match’s final buzzer. The game had no particular importance since both teams’ places in Group G were already certain.

The Turkish basketball players returned home to the Aegean province of İzmir through Greece because Greek Cypriot officials rejected Pınar Karşıyaka’s request to spend the night with security in northern Cyprus. They argued that such a step would be tantamount to recognizing Turkish Cyprus, which is only recognized by Turkey. Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been divided since 1974, when Turkey sent troops into the north after a rebellion by Greek Cypriots who wanted to unify with Greece.

“The Greek Cypriot squad played in a previous match in İzmir, where they were warmly welcomed without encountering any incident. Turkish authorities did not even feel the need to take any extra security measures,” one source familiar with the developments told the Daily News.

“Our players thought they would be treated the same and in return decided to play the match in Greek Cyprus but what was expected did not happen,” the source added.

Immediately following the incident, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu held a telephone conversation with Kaya Türkmen, the country’s ambassador to northern Cyprus. Embassy officials contacted by the Daily News said Türkmen would be unable to comment due to his busy schedule.

Turkey will track the issue, says FM

In Istanbul, Davutoğlu said Thursday that necessary security measures were not taken. “This is not an excusable situation, and we will keep track of the issue,” he told a group of journalists in Istanbul’s Çırağan Palace, where he was attending the 11th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization.

The Turkish foreign minister also said statements of apology made by Greek Cypriot authorities immediately after the attack were not sufficient, and emphasized that brotherhood and peace must prevail in sports events.

In initial remarks, Greek Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias slammed those involved in the assault as “brainless,” saying their actions harmed the interests of the Greek Cypriot side.

“This has caused big problems for the Republic of Cyprus because this gives great fuel to Turkish propaganda,” he was quoted as saying.

* Daily News reporter Erisa Dautaj Şenerdem contributed to this report from Istanbul.

Hürriyet Daily News

December 24, 2010
Kobe Bryant’s new deal with Turkish Airlines sparks outrage among Armenian population in Los Angeles

Kobe Bryant’s latest endorsement deal has some Lakers fans crying foul.

And now the drama is following him on the road.

Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant signed an endorsement deal with Turkish Airlines. Read more:

The hoops star inked a deal to be the face of Turkish Airlines as it announced a plan to launch non-stop flights between Istanbul and Los Angeles in March. Under the terms of the deal, Bryant will appear in a film for the airline, make visits to Turkey and get paid for the use of his image, NBC Sports reported.

But the large Armenian population in Los Angeles – many of them who happen to be Lakers fans – are furious over the endorsement and urged Bryant to drop the deal.

Armenian groups and many scholars argue that Turkey committed genocide by targeting the ethnic group during what they said was a massacre beginning in 1915. Today, Turkey refuses to officially admit the genocide took place, which has been a source of tension between it and many of its Western allies – including the United States.

By inking the deal, the Armenian Youth Federation argued, Bryant wasn’t properly acknowledging their community’s concerns.

“Armenian Americans hope that Kobe would balance what clearly looks to be a profitable business deal with a strong moral statement against Turkey’s violations of human rights, including, of course, its ongoing denial of the Armenian Genocide,” the group said on their website.

In a press release, Bryant said he had never actually visited Turkey, but called it “a country rich in natural beauty and thousands of years of cultural history.”

The group also pointed out that Bryant’s Lakers’ teammate Lamar Odom’s sister-in-law, Kim Kardashian, had recently come “under scrutiny in the Turkish press for tweeting about Armenian Genocide recognition.”

Earlier this month, Kardashian tweeted Nancy Pelosi to ask her to schedule a new vote on the Armenian Genocide Resolution, which would officially recognize the genocide.

Bryant’s camp has so far been silent on the controversy.

Since the endorsement was first noticed a week ago, Armenians across the world have joined in to protest the NBA star.

In Bryant’s latest game in Toronto, the Lakers were met with about 30 protesters from the city’s Armenian community, CPTV24 reported.

“Kobe,” protesters urged in their sign, “Do the right thing.”

nmandell@nydailynews.com

via Kobe Bryant’s new deal with Turkish Airlines sparks outrage among Armenian population in Los Angeles.

December 21, 2010