We are now all Sivasspor fans
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 01, 2009 00:00
A survey of football sentiment in the Daily News newsroom would reveal a few diehard Fenerbahçe supporters, a serious clutch of Beşiktaş fans and probably a preponderance of Galatasaray devotees. But today, we are all fans of Sivasspor, the Anatolian team that narrowly missed clinching the Turkcell Super League title against Beşiktaş on Saturday after a defeat to Galatasaray.
Perhaps this is just in the disposition of journalists to root for the underdog. But we would like to think it is more. For the history of sport in general and football in particular is replete with examples of its calling to our better nature. One famous example of the contribution football can make to better understanding is the "Christmas trench truce of 1914," the famous story of Britains and Germans battling one another during World War I. On Christmas Day, after months of bloodshed, they wooed one another out of their trenches with a makeshift football. After laying down their weapons for a series of impromptu matches, soldiers on both sides ultimately had to be redeployed; they could no long fight one another.
A more contemporary example is last year’s "football diplomacy" in Yerevan between national teams of Turkey and Armenia. As we all know, this match helped to nurture the spirit of reconciliation between the two societies that continues even while many challenges remain.
And so we celebrate this success, the furthest distance in league play achieved by a non-Istanbul team in more than a quarter century. As we reported in our Weekend newspaper, many in the city of Sivas hope this success on the pitch will help the city of 400,000 emerge from its dark image stemming from the so-called Madimak massacre of 1993. The killing of 37 Alevi artists and intellectuals in an arson attack on a hotel where they were gathered has all but become synonymous with the name of the city. The tragedy was compounded by migration of many resident members of the distinct Islamic community from Sivas, an exodus that has culturally impoverished the city.
We would agree with Mustafa Çoban, a Sivas labor leader, that success in sports cannot wash away the legacy of a terrible crime. "We cannot try and forget the events just because we want people to have positive feelings about Sivas," Çoban told the Daily News. Of course not.
But a success in which Sivas can share broadly, and in which all of Turkey can cheer Sivas, can create the emotional and intellectual space for retrospection, introspection and ultimately the healing that has too long been delayed. Sivas needs to come to terms with its history before it can effectively move on as an important urban center of the country. We believe this victory on the football field will aid that process.
Sivasspor now moves to a qualifying round to play in Europe’s top tier Champions League. We wish it every success.
A more contemporary example is last year’s "football diplomacy" in Yerevan between national teams of Turkey and Armenia. As we all know, this match helped to nurture the spirit of reconciliation between the two societies that continues even while many challenges remain.
And so we celebrate this success, the furthest distance in league play achieved by a non-Istanbul team in more than a quarter century. As we reported in our Weekend newspaper, many in the city of Sivas hope this success on the pitch will help the city of 400,000 emerge from its dark image stemming from the so-called Madimak massacre of 1993. The killing of 37 Alevi artists and intellectuals in an arson attack on a hotel where they were gathered has all but become synonymous with the name of the city. The tragedy was compounded by migration of many resident members of the distinct Islamic community from Sivas, an exodus that has culturally impoverished the city.
We would agree with Mustafa Çoban, a Sivas labor leader, that success in sports cannot wash away the legacy of a terrible crime. "We cannot try and forget the events just because we want people to have positive feelings about Sivas," Çoban told the Daily News. Of course not.
But a success in which Sivas can share broadly, and in which all of Turkey can cheer Sivas, can create the emotional and intellectual space for retrospection, introspection and ultimately the healing that has too long been delayed. Sivas needs to come to terms with its history before it can effectively move on as an important urban center of the country. We believe this victory on the football field will aid that process.
Sivasspor now moves to a qualifying round to play in Europe’s top tier Champions League. We wish it every success.