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Tuesday, 19 September 2006 |
Turkey escape being dropped from Formula One calendar
Turkey has escaped being dropped from the Formula One calendar after they had permitted the leader of an unrecognised country to present the trophy at this year's race, however, the organisers have been fined £2.66m after the controversial incident in Istanbul on 27 August.
The FIA was afraid the decision to let Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat to hand the trophy to Felipe Massa had compromised political neutrality but FIA thought a fine was punishment enough.
Organisers had said that the invitation to Mehmet Ali Talat was as "a dignitary of international status" and said they didn't use the podium ceremony to try and gain any political advantage.
However, Turkey was found "guilty on all counts" of breaking FIA statutes, the international sporting code and Formula One regulations.
The problem was that the Turkish-controlled area of northern Cyprus isn't recognised as a separate country by the United Nations and the Greek-Cypriot controlled south is the internationally recognised government.
Ilhan Parseker, a member of the Turkish delegation at the FIA meeting in Paris, breathed a sigh of relief that the race wasn't deleted from the calendar.
"The important thing for us is that races at Istanbul continue without interruption," Ilhan Parseker said.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 21 September 2006 )
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