Two Israeli footballers from the Turkish club Antalyaspor have announced that they will not play in the match scheduled for this Saturday afternoon, after learning of the Super League's decision to observe a minute of silence for the Palestinian victims of the war between Israel and Hamas.
"As national team players, we will not participate in this ceremony and will not go to the stadium," Antalyaspor footballers Ramzi Safuri and Sagiv Jehezkel said in a statement.
They indicated that the club's leaders showed understanding towards their decision not to participate in the match, which they also justified by the difficult situation in Israel after the unprecedented terrorist attack perpetrated by the radical Islamist group Hamas on October 7.
Turkey is today on its third day of national mourning, declared by the authorities for the more than 3,000 Palestinian deaths caused by Israeli bombings of the Gaza Strip.
After prayers yesterday, Friday, thousands of people once again took to the streets of the main Turkish cities to protest against Israel and it was decided to observe a minute of silence before football matches. "The bad news from the country (Israel) makes it almost impossible for us to play football," Safuri and Jehezkel wrote in the note.
"In addition, we have learned that today's match will be marked by a minute of silence to condemn Israel," they added. "The attitude towards us here (at the club) is very warm and we will continue to be among those building new bridges in the days to come," the two players concluded.
Antalyaspor, which occupies 13th place in the Turkish Super League after 8 rounds, will play this afternoon, at 4:00 p.m. local time (1:00 p.m. GMT), its 9th match against Gaziantepspor.
