A group of Kurdish supporters of the Western Sydney Wanderers haled a banner at the team鈥檚 winning January 1 match against聽Macarthur Football Club to show solidarity聽with Kurdish soccer players who are facing racist violence in Turkey.
鈥淜urdish soccer teams from the Kurdish majority in south鈥揺ast Turkey have been violently attacked by ultra-nationalist Turks in matches in the west of the country,鈥 Ismet Tastan told聽91自拍论坛.
Tastan is a member of聽the Ciwan锚n Welat Parez group which has been organising solidarity protests聽against racist attacks against Kurdish teams, such as Amedspor.
鈥淭here was a violent attack on December 19 against members of the Amedspor team from聽Diyarbakir, when they played against the Turkish聽Bursaspor team when it was defeated 2鈥0 on its home ground,鈥 Tastan said.
鈥淰ideo footage聽that has gone viral on social media shows Bursaspor members attacking Amedspor players after the final whistle.
鈥淭here was another violent attack in a game in Anatolia on January 3, when ultra-nationationalist Turks from the聽Yozgatspor team attacked Kurdish players from the聽Bingolspor.
鈥淭his is the type of violent racism Kurds experience in everyday life in聽Turkey, where they are attacking our聽culture, our language, our elected representatives and even our sports teams. Most of this racist violence is not reported by the media but when it happens on the soccer field in a big game, then the whole world can see.聽
鈥淲e ask the world to condemn聽this racism,聽which聽is being carried out by supporters of the fascist Grey Wolves that use some teams to spread their hate.鈥