"Congratulations to Bursaspor for their national stance"

"Congratulations to Bursaspor for their national stance"
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Turkish ultranationalist leader Devlet Bahceli said Amedspor could be declared null and void because it has "Amed" (Kurdish name of Diyarbakir city) in its name. "There is no place called Amed. I salute Bursaspor," he said.

The leader of the nationalist MHP (National Movement Party), Devlet Bahceli, said that one cannot speak of Amedspor in Turkey "because there is no place called Amed," and refused to accept the Kurdish name of the football club that currently plays for the championship in Turkey's second league.

Referring to the recent incident in which Amedspor players and fans were attacked and subjected to racist hostility during an away match against Bursaspor, Bahceli said he saluted Bursaspor and stood by the club for its nationalist stance.

During a speech he gave to his fellow deputies in the Grand Turkish Assembly, Bahceli used a version of Amedspor translated into Turkish.

"It is known to all that the images shown during the match between Bursaspor and Diyarbakirspor last weekend are against morality and the nature of sports. In our opinion, there is no place like Amed, it will not be possible to talk about Amedspor. I salute the Bursaspor fans," he said.

On Sunday, during the match against the visiting Kurdish team, fans of the home team waved a poster of an infamous figure accused of extrajudicially murdering Kurdish political activists, and a brawl was narrowly avoided after some players of the home team Bursaspor allegedly tried to attack Amedspor players on the pitch.

Bahceli earlier sharply criticized football fans who protested against the government for its inadequate response to the earthquake and later resigned from membership of the Besiktas club, whose fans chanted, "The government must resign."