Armenian Fans React With Boos During Turkish National Anthem

Ankara, March 25 – The Star newspaper reported that tight security measures were taken around the Yerevan stadium, where the qualifying match for the 2024 European Football Championship is being held between the national teams of Armenia and Turkey, as Armenian fans booed the Turkish anthem.

The teams of the two countries were in the fourth qualifying group, along with the teams of Croatia, Wales and Latvia. The European Championships will be held from June 14 to July 14, 2024 in Germany. Selection started on March 23, 2023. The top two teams from each group will advance to the European Championship. Four other teams will be selected for the tournament through the playoffs, where they will receive a Nations League basis.

There are no diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia, and the borders between the two countries have been closed since 1993 at the initiative of Ankara. The difficult relations between the two countries caused a number of circumstances related to Ankara’s support for the Azerbaijani position on the Karabakh problem and the sharp Turkish reaction to the process of international recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in the Ottoman Empire.

In January 2022, Moscow hosted the first meeting of special representatives for the normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey – Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament Rubin Rubinyan and former Turkish Ambassador to the United States Serdar Kilic. As stated by the Russian Foreign Ministry, during the talks, the parties expressed their willingness to conduct dialogue in a constructive and non-politicized manner. Three other meetings were held in Vienna.