How very much we needed a ‘success’…
How thirsty we were for joy, for good news, for pride in our collective strength…
When ‘our lads’ became ‘European Champions’ at the CONIFA tournament, a huge display of ‘joy’ began, particularly in ‘political’ circles…
From the Vice-President of the Republic of Turkey to the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, everyone is making statements, unable to praise our footballers enough…
There are even those who, without fully understanding or investigating this success that ‘proudly’ inspires our politicians, are declaring, “We have broken the embargo on sports”…
There are politicians like Ünal Üstel who are sacrificing this success to jingoism by feeding it with ‘political opinion’…
There is the astonishing ‘two-faced’ statement from ‘the appointed, careerist minister’ Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu…
First and foremost, let me say this…
The success achieved by our national team can never be underestimated…
Whilst we cannot even play a match against Turkey, being able to play against teams from other countries, regions and peoples—even if they are amateur—and providing our young people with this experience is of great importance.
For this reason, I sincerely congratulate every one of our footballers…
I also congratulate those who prepared them for this championship…
CONIFA (Confederation of Independent Football Associations), established in Sweden, is a ‘non-profit’ civil organisation.
Our football federation is one of the oldest members of this organisation.
The ‘Padania FA’ we defeated in the final is a team that has won the championship several times in this organisation’s tournaments…
That is why our team scoring six goals against them is a major achievement…
CONIFA brings together football federations that cannot join FIFA and UEFA, or that remain outside the FIFA system for various reasons.
Its aim is to promote football, played by both men and women, across five continents, and to build bridges between world cultures…
CONIFA, which accepts as members regions not recognised as states, autonomous regions within a state, ethnic minorities, and cultural or historical communities, has around 40 members.
Among these are entities not recognised by the world, such as Kurdistan, Rojava, East Turkestan, Kashmir, Palestinian Refugees, Tibet, Punjab and Darfur.
In short, CONIFA can be described as the ‘home outside FIFA for football communities unable to find opportunities to play on the international stage’.
Our football federation has also been a member of this civil initiative, which organises sporting events and tournaments in various regions of the world, for many years…
Please note…
It is a platform for football federations, not for states…
According to its constitution, CONIFA does not take sides in any conflict, or political dispute. The organisation operates in accordance with high ethical standards and without pursuing political and/or religious objectives.
The participation of our ‘national team’ in such a global platform is extremely beneficial in terms of our ‘visibility’ in the world.
However, this is not a matter of ‘state’ representation, or the TRNC flag.
The football teams participating in the tournament represent a football federation, not a ‘state’.
That is why every team’s name ends with ‘FA’…
Our ‘national team’ also competed there under the name ‘Northern Cyprus Football Federation’.
In other words, the phrase ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ does not appear in any of the tournament’s official documents.
In short, jingoistic claims made by Ünal Üstel regarding this success—that “they flew our state’s flag”—are nothing but pure manipulation.
Six teams competed in CONIFA 2026…
The ‘Padania FA’, which our national team defeated to become champions in the final, is a representative team based on cultural and regional identity, hailing from the region of the same name in northern Italy.
‘Greenland FA’ represents the small island of 57,000 inhabitants under Danish sovereignty, which US President Trump has set his sights on and wished to purchase. It has an autonomous regional administration funded by Denmark.
Another team: ‘Canton Ticino FA’
It represents Ticino, Switzerland’s only Italian-speaking canton. An independent football federation with a regional-cultural identity...
‘FF Rouet Provence’, an independent football federation representing a cultural movement that emerged in the Provence region of France...
A national team project formed with the aim of promoting Provence’s culture, language and regional identity through football…
‘FA Raetia’ is a football federation representing the historical Raetia region—spanning territories in Switzerland, Italy and Austria—and a historical cultural geography…
As can be seen, this tournament does not quite fit the criteria of the ‘equal sovereignty’ advocates…
They will not sit at the table without ‘international equal status’, yet they cannot stop our young people from taking to the pitch without state recognition.
I had expected Tahsin Ertuğruloğlu—who advised against sitting at the table by posing questions to the president such as “equal sovereignty, they are the state and we are the society, an unequal ground”—to say, “Let them recognise our state, then we’ll take to the field”…
Instead, he congratulated ‘our lads’ and said he was proud…
A thoroughly ‘two-faced’ policy…
Yet, without paying heed to these separatists, we must utilise every global platform and enter through every open door…
Increasing the ‘visibility’ of Turkish Cypriots in the world is a worthwhile endeavour, and we must certainly participate in such events.
There is no door we cannot open through art, sport and culture…
