Turkish Soccer Fans Boo and Chant “Allahu Akbar” Through Moment Of Silence For Paris Terror Victims

While the sports world has paid its respects to Paris since the terrorist attacks that shook the city last week, a planned moment of silence in Turkey did not go according to plan.

Before a match against Greece, Turkish fans whistled — the global soccer equivalent of North American boos — and chanted through the the Greek national anthem and a planned moment of silence

The chants were reportedly “Allahu Akbar” and “Martyrs never die, the country will never be divided,” according to Today’s Zaman.

Unsurprisingly, the Turkish national team’s coach, Fatih Terim, voiced his displeasure with the fans.

“First, it is unacceptable that the Greek anthem was booed. Who did that? How do we justify to the world what happened here? Our custom is to respect our neighbors. If we were the victims of those whistles abroad, we would be devastated. I grew up in an area where it is mixed and where we respected each other”, he told L’Equipe.

“These whistles damage the image of our country,” he said. “There were two matches on Tuesday canceled because of this terror. This is not child’s play. Terrorist threats are very serious. We must think. We can not remain passive in our country facing what is happening. It’s not us. You realize there is not even a minute’s silence. My God. I cannot justify what happened. But if we act together, we can prevent the sport from being sacrificed to terrorism.”

PHOTO: ISTANBUL, TURKEY – NOVEMBER 17: Turkey’s Ozan Tufan, dribble past Greece’s Alexandros Tziolis during an international friendly soccer match between Greece and Turkey November 17, 2015 in Istanbul, Turkey. (Photo by Burak Kara/Getty Images)

Article by Joe Kozlowski