ANKARA (A.A) - 18.06.2002 - President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said on Tuesday that the victory of the Turkish national soccer team which won the right to play in the quarterfinal in 2002 World Cup pleased and honoured the Turkish nation.
Sending a message of congratulation to Turkish Football Federation Chairman Haluk Ulusoy, President Sezer congratulad both the technical staff and the footballers.
ECEVIT CONGRATULATES NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on Tuesday that he very sincerely congratulated the administrators of the national team and the soccer players who won the right to play in the 17th World Cup quarterfinals.
Premier Ecevit responded to the questions of NTV Ankara representative Murat Akgun in live broadcast.
When Akgun stated that this was a very important day as the national team won the right to play in the in the 17th World Cup quarterfinals, Ecevit said this was a very happy day for him.
Ecevit said he also shared the pleasure of the Turkish nation, noting that he watched the match of the national team.
Ecevit said, ''our nation and people are very pleased over the success recorded by our national football team. I am sure that we are on the way to record the same success in basketball and volleyball.''
When asked if Turkey has chance in its match with Senagal, Ecevit said he did not have many information in this respect, noting that, ''however, the important thing is the success of our national team.''
GUNES: HIS FOOTBALLERS WHO HAVE WRITTEN HISTORY SO FAR ARE TODAY WRITING THE FUTURE
Turkish national football team coach Senol Gunes said on Tuesday that Turkish footballers who had written history so far were today writing the future.
Gunes told reporters that he did not want to name the result gained in World Cup second round match against Japan as ''victory'' and said, ''my players who have written history are today writing the future.''
They now focused on the quarterfinal match against Senegal, Gunes stated.
Gunes noted that they wanted to qualify for semifinals by beating Senegal.
Responding to a question, Gunes said that they wanted to proceed step by step. He noted that their target was semifinals. However, Gunes said, this was not an easy target but Turks liked to achieve the difficult.
Football Federation Chairman Haluk Ulusoy said that they believed that Turkish national football team could qualify for semifinals.
National football team captain Hakan Sukur said that they would do their best to qualify for semifinals while player Tayfur Havutcu said that they had reached the place they deserved thanks to their belief.
Defender Alpay Ozalan said that the teams that had qualified for the quarterfinals were all strong and that they would have a challenging match with Senegal.
Umit Davala, who scored the only goal against Japan, said that they would go as far as they would go and that they targeted the final. Davala added that they believed that they would defeat Senegal.
Hasan Sas expressed belief that Turkish national team would go through the final.
After the match, Japanese people who watched the match carrying Turkish and Japanese flags were sympathetic to Turkish footballers.