Turkey: Group target Kurdish team with racist slogans outside hotel

An agitated crowd in Turkey's western city of Bursa raised a commotion early Sunday outside a hotel where a visiting football team from the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir were staying.

Hundreds of fans of Bursa Sports Club (Bursaspor) shouted, "How happy is the one who says I'm a Turk," a motto of the Turkish Republic that is used as a military cadence.

Fans also chanted, "Bastards of Apo [Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party], we're out of patience, people of Bursa are coming to f*** your mother."

Diyarbakir's Amed (Kurdish name for Diyarbakir) Sports Club (Amedspor), has been frequently targeted by racist fans of various Turkish football teams, as in the eyes of the fans the club and its football team represent the Kurdish people.

Amed Sports Club posted videos of the incident and said on Twitter:

"Last night, 02:45 AM, outside the hotel where our Amedspor is staying. Those who are yelling 'racist' remarks are Bursaspor fans. This is inappropriate behavior before a 90-minute game especially considering that this team arrived from the earthquake zone. We hope the TFF [Turkish Football Federation] takes notice!"

Garo Paylan, deputy for the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), warned of lack of security measures, saying:

"I seriously doubt that necessary security measures will be taken during the game today by the governor who has done nothing to stop the racist demonstration against Amedspor in Bursa till late at night yesterday. I call to duty officials with commonsense, if there is any left."

The hashtag "Amedsporyalnizdegildir" ("Amedspor is not alone") has become trending on Twitter after videos of the uproar outside the hotel were released.