FRENCH FOOTBALL PLAYER YURI DJORKAEFF REFUSED TO PLAY IN FREINDLY MATCH BETWEEN TURKISH AND FRENCH TEAMS

14.11.2000, MEDIAMAX, YEREVAN. Armenian origin French international player Yuri Djorkaeff said that he wouldn’t arrive in Turkey for the friendly match that will be played between Turkey and France in Istanbul on November 15. The Turkish “Turkiye” daily says in this regard that the “so-called genocide overshadowed even sports.”
The French football player Yuri Djorkaeff has never hidden his Armenian origin and was very active in international recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915. In August of 1998, when a football match between the Turkish and World teams has to be taken place in Istanbul dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Turkish Republic, the Turkish authorities announced that it is unacceptable for them to see Yuri Djorkaeff in the world team, because the French player actively stood for recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in Ottoman Turkey. The Turkish side considered the invitation as a “personal insult”.
On September 9 of 1999 the Armenian President Robert Kocharian handed over the Armenian passports to two players of the French team – Yuri Djorkaeff and Alen Bogossian. –0–