Spectators try and rile Israeli hockey team with Erdoğan portrait

ISTANBUL

A group of spectators seated among tried to intimidate Israeli players by hanging a banner referencing Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan's notorious outburst to Israeli President Peres at Davos.

Ongoing political tensions had fans on thin ice when the Turkish national ice hockey team hosted Israel in the Men’s U18 Ice Hockey World Championships on Feb. 10 in İzmit in a game that saw spectators attempt to bring politics into a sport yet to gain popularity in Turkey.      

While the game got started without any trouble, in the fifth minute a group of spectators seated among the sparse Turkish crowd tried to intimidate their rivals by hanging a banner referencing the cause celebre between the countries: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s memorable “one minute” outburst to Israeli President Shimon Peres during the Davos economic Forum of 2000.

The banner featured Erdoğan frozen in his notorious “one minute” expression just before he lashed out at Peres, saying “I will not come again to Davos” as he stormed off the stage. It was immediately removed by security guards and those who hung it were removed from the stadium.

Erdoğan’s image was presumably intended to intimidate Israel’s players by disrupting their concentration during the game. Unfortunately for the spectators their attempt did not help to alleviate the Turkish team’s miserable performance on the rink. Israel won the game easily 6-1 as Turkey suffered its second defeat and lost its chance of moving on to the championship’s next round. The incident left no hurt feelings between the players, however, as they took a collective souvenir picture before leaving the rink.