24.04.2025 13:10
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made statements at the opening ceremony of the UEFA Istanbul Representative Office in Levent. Erdoğan said, "We have the capacity to handle all kinds of sports events, including the Olympics. Behind our bold statements are the projects we have brought to our country."
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The UEFA Istanbul Representative Office, aimed at accelerating coordination between the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) and UEFA, has commenced operations at the TFF Levent Kasrı building.
ERDOĞAN'S ASSERTIVE WORDS
In recent years, Istanbul, which has hosted many international organizations, has become the third city after London and Brussels to open a UEFA representative office. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made statements during the opening ceremony.
President Erdoğan's statements are as follows:
"I am happy to be with you on the occasion of the opening of UEFA's Istanbul representative office. I hope that the representative office will be a harbinger of good things.
Welcome to Istanbul, a city of sports and football. I would like to thank Aleksander Čeferin and all the UEFA management, our Turkish Football Federation, and of course our Ministry of Youth and Sports for their efforts.
We successfully hosted the Champions League final in 2005, the UEFA final in 2009, the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2013, and the UEFA Super Cup final in 2019. Our teams participate in UEFA organizations every year. Our National Team reached the quarter-finals in the European Championship. They captured the hearts of football fans with their style of play. The National Team has earned the right to be in League A of the Nations League. We will host the 2026 European League and the 2027 Conference League finals. We will organize the 2032 European Championship in our country together with Italy.
We have demolished many aging stadiums in football and built new facilities in their place. 38 of the stadiums across Turkey have been put into service, while the construction of 4 is ongoing and project and tender works for 4 others are continuing. We have also completed our infrastructure deficiencies affecting sports.
"WE CAN HANDLE ANY KIND OF SPORTS EVENT"
We have worked with a spirit of mobilization to bring sports in our country to the level it deserves and to ensure that Turkey's infrastructure reaches world standards. With the opening of the UEFA Istanbul representative office, we are taking these efforts to a higher level. UEFA is opening a representative office in Istanbul after London and Brussels. We will communicate more with UEFA and sign joint projects together. The representative office will also enable faster communication with regional federations.
I would like to extend my best wishes to our citizens affected by the earthquake that occurred yesterday. In the meeting we held with AFAD, we received the latest information and gave the necessary instructions. The absence of loss of life is our greatest consolation. We are working as a state. We will evaluate the issue in the upcoming cabinet meeting and make statements. Today, I want to emphasize that we do not approve of issues that affect all of us, such as earthquakes, being used for daily politics. We do not want to engage in discussions with anyone during such sensitive times. These days are not for politics, but for being united as a nation and remembering our brotherhood.
I wish the UEFA Istanbul representative office to be beneficial. I congratulate our president and ministers who contributed to this effort. I sincerely thank our guests who share our joy."
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