THE INCLUSION of the Turkish Grand Prix on next year’s Formula 1 calendar has been thrown into doubt as the fall-out from Sunday’s podium ceremony in Istanbul continues.
The Cyprus government was outraged after Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat presented the winner’s trophy to Ferrari driver Felipe Massa.
He was introduced to millions of viewers around the world as the “President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” in a television caption.
Government Spokesman Christodoulos Pashardis called the incident, “an unacceptable and provocative theatrical performance organised by Ankara, with Talat as the leading actor and we have made an official complaint to the F?d?ration Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).”
In a press release, the FIA said yesterday that it “has launched a full investigation into the circumstances in which Mr Mehmet Ali Talat was invited to present the winner’s trophy at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix.
“Political neutrality is fundamental to the FIA’s role as the governing body of international motor sport. No compromise or violation of this neutrality is acceptable.
The results of the investigation will be presented to the FIA World Motor Sport Council in October.”
An F1 source yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that senior members of the organisation are understood to be furious over the incident. “In light of comments made by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, which have exacerbated the perception of the event being manipulated for personal reasons, it’s difficult to see how Turkey can remain on the F1 calendar next year.”
This was despite the Grand Prix being listed on a 17-race calendar published yesterday.
“At this stage, the FIA is not ruling out an extraordinary meeting of the Motor Sport Council to discuss the matter,” the source explained.
According to reports, details of those handing out the awards had apparently been withheld until the last moment, leaving those responsible for the television captioning with little time to react.
“They deceived the FIA and tried to exploit for political purposes a purely sporting event, through provocative manoeuvres and absurd propaganda methods,” said Pashardis.
But the Turkish Cypriot authorities hit back in the row, with ‘Presidential Spokesman’
Hasan Ercakica yesterday holding a press conference in which he accused the Greek Cypriot side of, “staging attacks with all their might against the Turkish Cypriots in order to isolate and suffocate them and finally make them surrender. These kinds of initiatives have recently been intensified.”
He added that, “these approaches, actions and statements have nothing to do with the ideals of humanity. They are using the unfair advantages of being recognised as the Republic of Cyprus, and all the other means within their reach, in order to achieve their aims.
“There is no need to state that it is not possible to reach a solution to the Cyprus issue or to make the Turkish Cypriot side accept a settlement Greek Cypriot side would prefer through these methods. On the contrary, the stance, opinions and methods of the Greek Cypriot side are complicating the prospects of reaching a settlement and creating distrust and anger among the Turkish Cypriots.”
The FIA takes podium breaches very seriously. In 1997 it banned the southern Spanish circuit of Jerez, which had hosted the European Grand Prix, from having any future races after the local mayor disrupted the podium ceremony.
And in 2002, Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher, team-mate Rubens Barrichello and Ferrari were fined one million dollars for their actions on the Austrian Grand Prix podium.
Schumacher had switched places with Barrichello on the top step after the Brazilian had been ordered to let the German win despite leading the entire race.
