However, they cut out the bit where I told them I heard one of the Glendale players make specific reference to their origin to a spectator during the game, although as I stated I don’t know the context.

Turkish and American teams clash at Pan-Armenian Games
A Turkish daily yesterday carried reports of a clash between Turkish-Armenian and American-Armenian basketball teams at the Pan-Armenian Games in Yerevan, however the captain of the İstanbul-based team later said the report had exaggerated any racial element to the incident.

The Turkish daily Sabah reported on Monday that members of the American-Armenian team Glendale attacked Turkish-Armenian players during the game. Explaining that the event, which brings together Armenians living in different countries took place last week, adding: “This time, the games held every four years were marked by ugly attacks, not sports. The US Armenian male basketball team attacked the İstanbul team from Turkey. American basketball players provoked a Turkish player during a double game by saying ‘ugly Turkish dogs’.” The report added that the police had had to intervene in the brawl.

“We beat the Yerevan team the day before our match with [US side] Glendale. Team members from Glendale had watched that game and I’m sure they had an idea about how powerful our team was. So they were pretty tense at the game the next day,” said Alen Tekbıçak, the captain of the İstanbul basketball team, comprised of Turkish-Armenians. “The players pushed and shoved one another and police had to interfere, plus fouls were given to both sides, but nobody called our team players ‘dirty Turkish dogs’,” he explained. Tekbıçak said the players from both sides shook hands at the end of the game, which ended with Glendale’s 74-65 victory on Aug. 20. The team members also came across each other that night at a dinner and had a friendly chat, he added.

The newspaper report cited an article by an “Armenian journalist,” Onnik Krikorian, who gave an account of the events on his blog, www.oneworld.am The Armenia-based British journalist and photographer Onnik Krikorian replied to Today’s Zaman by e-mail, saying: “I was there at the game and saw the fight on the court as shown in the photos I took. However, I didn’t hear the actual insult that is alleged to have happened, which is why I’ve said that it’s according to one side. However, I did speak to one of the Glendale players after the match who denied that the fight had anything to do with the fact that the İstanbul Armenians were from Turkey. He added ‘They’re half-Armenian after all’ and ‘They have some Armenian blood in them’.”

Krikorian also noted that the game seemed tense throughout, but “it’s important to note that the other matches I saw involving İstanbul teams passed peacefully and without any tensions on or off court.” Regarding the fight, a few of the Glendale players have left comments on Krikorian’s Web site. Some of them do not deny that derogatory remarks were made toward the İstanbul team, and one even accuses them of “acting like Turks,” suggesting their origin did play a role in the fight.

The Pan-Armenian Games are hosted every four years in Armenia with the participation of Armenian athletes from all over the world. At the closing ceremony, Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sargzyan presented a cup to the Turkish team for representing their city in the best way. The games were held between Aug. 18-26 and Turkish teams participated in football, volleyball, basketball, tennis, chess and track-and-field events.

04.09.2007
YONCA POYRAZ DOĞAN İSTANBUL

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=121181&bolum=102

I suppose it’s understandable that the Istanbul Armenians now deny that remarks were made, but I suppose I’m not an Armenian living in Turkey who doesn’t want to be in the middle of a propaganda war. Anyway, Today’s Zaman looks quite an interesting paper especially as some of the other Turkish newspapers didn’t even bother to contact the Istanbul or Glendale teams or myself. Today’s Zaman did, however. Interesting interview on the ADL/Genocide Resolution in the U.S as well.

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=121042

To call someone a mother f—er is a turkish thing to do and whether he gets this message to or tommorow, he has already heard it from me in Armenia.

[…]

Maybe a better approach if you were there like i was hands on should have been” ALAN # 10 on the istanbul team was behaving in a turkish manner”

Well, now you put it like that I can see that you’re not prejudiced at all. Really, I mean, no racial slurs there at all — not.

Anyway, like many of us said, we know that there is inter-Diaspora discrimination, and I heard the comments about “half-Armenians” myself after the game. I also heard another comment during the match about their being from Turkey and before the fight, although do not know the context.

While Anthony Khotsikian went some of the way of putting a level-headed and considered alternative to the Istanbul Armenian one, I’m afraid you just blew any chances of being taken seriously. “Behaving in a Turkish Manner,” do me a favor…

I was present at the game and during the fight and off course my side of the story will seem one sided but i will tell you as i saw it and heard it.

It all starts with # 10 (ALAN) on the Istanbul team swearing at me and # 7 ( moteher ——to be exact).

Did some our players call the opponents turks in return, i would be lying if i said they did not, but those words only came out after numurous encounters all started with Alan from Istanbul,

To call someone a mother f—er is a turkish thing to do and whether he gets this message to or tommorow, he has already heard it from me in Armenia.

To top it all off, he purposely injured my knee during the game and threw the ball at one of my teammate’s private parts which started the fight.

So the topic of this article should not have been that “Armenians living in turkey are not turks.”

Maybe a better approach if you were there like i was hands on should have been” ALAN # 10 on the istanbul team was behaving in a turkish manner”

Artin Avanessian #11

I’d also like to extend my gratitude to Mr. Krikorian for covering the games. With your help, we are able to keep up with what’s going on in Armenia. As much attention that was given to the fight, it would be much more appreciated if you’d cover the scores and let us know who’s in the lead. Pictures are great and make us feel like we are a part of this great tournament!

Best regards!

I would like to share my story of the incident that ocurred during the basketball bracket game between my team Glendale vs. Istanbul. As everyone is aware an incident did occur, which is true…. but the reason has been overlooked and not mentioned… with 4:42 left in the game.. me and another player got tangled up and the foul was called upon me… I was guarding number 13 and I was number 15…. the referee blew the whistle and made the call…. that was my 5th foul and i was fouled out… afterwards the ball rolled into the hands of player number 10 from the Instanbul team…he picked up the basketball with two hands and purposly aimed for my crouch and threw the ball at me and the ball contacted with my crouch area… my instant reaction was to charge this player to figure out why he would do such a thing… but i was held back by another player from the Instanbul team and my teammate continued to chase player number 10… as player number 10 ran towards the direction of my bench with the reaction of me and my teammates it was obvious that Instanbul was acting with unsportsman like attitude towards us and we then respond with words of exchange threw frustration and anger of the incident…. after the game was over… and after everything… I approached the player who caused this incident and asked him what was the reason for his actions… and he explainded that it was because of what one of my players said to him and his teammates…. which might or might not be true…. but regardless of the fact of words, they should not be followed by actions of immaturity…. as actions of immaturity from both sides it should be known as athletes we are here for the same common goal… which is to be able to see and compete with one another regardless of which part of the country we are from and regardless of how far we leave and which country we live in due to the different circumstances we have all face… at the end of the day we are all armenia and we are all brothers and sisters from different parts of the world… we have to put this incident behind us and continue to grow as one regardless of this tournament or not…. this story has caused Instanbul and Mr. Pogosyan to stir up agression towards each other as there has not been any type of solution… this is just basketball and what happens on the court stays on the court… and Instanbul and Glendale both played a great game and both continued to play the tournament regardless of everything that occuried….

I also think it’s very natural for Armenians to be divided. We are not cattle to be “united” all the time. There are times to be united and times to divided. Even the rap groups in the US are divided to East Coast and West Coast.

And … one more thing. If mass media did not exist at all, the world would be a much safer place.

Following on from news that two basketball games erupted into violence between the teams playing, Lragir has an interesting commentary on what some of us accept and recognize from living in Armenia and various communities worldwide and what others do …