ISTANBUL - David Swift, the head of the English police team in Istanbul who came to Istanbul for the soccer match between Turkey and England, said on Saturday that 43 of the 45 English hooligans were sent home back to England from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport.
Thanking the Turkish police organization for their support and for their professional behaviours, David Swift said that both police organizations served common goals and this constituted basis for cooperation.
Noting that there was soccer hooliganism in Britain, Swift said that the British government and British soccer federation took certain measures not to export this problem to other countries. There were 1,800 hooligans in England and they gave the list of these persons to Turkish officials, he said. None of these hooligans came to Turkey, this was the success of the cooperation between Turkish and British police, he added.
Swift said that there have been no incidents whatsoever involving English people in Istanbul. What we hope for is that individuals, if they are here in Istanbul, will keep themselves low-profile and keep out of the way and stay in their hotels and behave as responsible citizens should, he added.
Swift said that entrance of 43 British citizens to Turkey was prevented until now, adding that they were not hooligans, but were normal British citizens, however as they were not allowed to enter stadium, they were sent back.
When a reporter asked whether Turkish police made cooperation with English police to benefit from their experiences regarding hooliganism, Swift said that there were cooperation between security offices, adding that he would go to Portugal for such a cooperation in the coming days.
Meanwhile, acting British Consul General in Istanbul Jim Begbie said that he was thankful for the measures taken by Turkish officials for preventing the entrance of British supporters to stadium.
Emphasizing that British Football Federation decided to prevent the entrance of British supporters to stadium, Begbie said that Turkish officials respected this decision and banned British citizens' entrance for restoring security.
(GC-ÖŞ) 11.10.2003