France: Turkish coach calls military salutes in stadium 'emotional reaction'

W/S Turkish football team coach Senol Gunes arriving for press conference, Paris
SOT, Senol Gunes, Turkish team coach (Turkish): "This is not to put out there violence or negativity. We want our kids - our kids or we might go to the army as well - to stay in our country. We don't want them to go to any country. But when there is a situation like this, the same thing is also valid for the French, if there's violence here. But of course, using that in the stadium is an emotional reaction on the spot, you put your hand on your heart, [inaudible]. It is not right to look for a bad intention here, we do not have a bad intention or thought. We just have the intention to stand with our soldiers. We do not send our soldiers so that they go and kill someone. However, it is something done in the perspective of protecting ourselves from an attack against us. We drop that now, we always talk about the same thing. Now this is something that goes beyond me, it's Trump's business, it's Macron's business actually. You're always asking me, tell them, they are the ones ruling the world, I can barely manage [my] team."
W/S Reporters in audience *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Senol Gunes, Turkish team coach (Turkish): "The world became smaller and more globalised. We have to know how to live together in this small world. I'm saying that threats and attacks are bad things. I tried to say that yesterday too. If only we were not exposed to a situation like this, with allegations against our country. The same way for the England - Bulgaria game or in another game, that such minorities become aggressive, that bigger states should understand smaller states. But essentially, what can we do so that humans are happy? The ones that go to war for illness, if they are manufacturing weapons, then unfortunately their reasons are apparent. That's why I'm sorry, football is uniting. Look we are here together thanks to football. I came to France, I think, about a month ago, I was able to walk on the streets comfortably. There were Turks, there were Kurds, there were French people. We came to the game as well, and it was a pretty nice game."
M/S Gunes leaving press conference
SCRIPT
Turkish national football team coach Senol Gunes said that the military salutes performed by his football players in the match against France were an "emotional reaction," during a press conference in Paris on Monday.
"This is not to put out there violence or negativity," said Gunes.
"It is not right to look for a bad intention here, we do not have a bad intention or thought. We just have the intention to stand with our soldiers. We do not send our soldiers so that they go and kill someone. However, it is something done in the perspective of protecting ourselves from an attack against us," he continued.
Gunes concluded by saying that "this is something that goes beyond me, it's Trump's business, it's Macron's business actually. You're always asking me, tell them, they are the ones ruling the world, I can barely manage [my] team."
During the Euro 2020 qualifier game against France on Monday, several Turkish players celebrated their goal by making a military-style salute in front of their supporters. The same gesture was performed during the team's match against Albania, earlier in the same week, drawing criticism.
European football's governing body, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), announced on Sunday a probe into the military salutes made during the Albania game.
On October 9, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the beginning of a military operation in north-eastern Syria dubbed 'Operation Peace Spring'. Ankara says the aim of the Turkish offensive is to create a 'safe zone' cleared of Kurdish groups.