June 11 – Turkish authorities have protested at how the country’s national footballers were treated at Iceland’s Reykjavik airport in the build-up to tonight’s Euro 2020 qualifier.
In a tweet, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu called the team’s treatment “unacceptable in terms of diplomatic and humanitarian practice” and said Turkey would “do what is necessary”.
Turkey’s team, fresh from its defeat of world champions France, flew into Keflavik airport on Monday and the players were reportedly kept waiting at passport control for three hours and had their bags searched.
“What they have done is disrespectful and rude,” vice-captain, Burak Yilmaz, he told Turkish TV reporters. “We have been waiting here for three hours. They took everyone’s bags and even everyone’s cosmetics. They searched it again and again. We flew for six and a half hours and we’ve waited for three hours.”
Omar Smarason, head of media and marketing at the Football Association of Iceland, countered that all passengers from “non-certified” airports received similar checks. Iceland’s players went through the same procedure when they arrived home from Turkey’s Konya airport five years ago, he added.
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