Panathinaikos say Team ‘Above Personal Positions’ Over Banner Row

They said each member of their team “has the self-evident and inalienable right to believe what they want, to advocate for any sociopolitical concept and position, to walk with their own code and values”, but that “the team is beyond and above everything individual, every personal position and point of view.”

They added that the team “is beyond and above all of us”, and that with this in mind, “agents, players, coaches, fans, must only serve the ideal of sports.

“Sport unites, it does not divide, and we all have a moral obligation in our history and our future to remain true to the spirit of sport and its ideals.”

They went on to say that, “as the most historic basketball club in Greece and Europe, we believe that sport is and must remain a place which promotes coexistence, communication, and brotherhood. We do not tolerate the slightest deviation from this.”

“The team, our coach, our fans, and all of us are united as one and nothing can shake us. Nothing can disturb this relationship.”

In the same statement, they were keen to point out that “with pride and a special moral obligation for decades, our family has hosted players and coaches from every country, every nationality, and every race.”

They added that their club “does not Hellenise, as others do without measure, disorienting after the fact with selfish motives,” and does not “insult our country with actions aimed at temporary gain nor plunder our national identity by using it as it pleases.”

They said their club “has proven over the years that it is a genuine patriotic team, an indisputable ambassador of Greek sports worldwide, which is guided by the national interest by continuously supporting Greek athletes and passing the torch of Greek values to every place on the planet.”

The furore began over a banner reading ‘50 years of illegal occupation, no one forgets’ was unfurled at Panathinaikos’ fixture in Cyprus, with the club’s Turkish head coach Ergin Ataman being visibly upset by it and demanding to be ejected from the court when it was unfurled.

He later expressed his surprise at the banner in a social media post on Tuesday, saying that “in the arena, where sports and friendship should prevail, a political banner was displayed by a small group that I did not find fitting for the hospitality we have experienced here.

“I expressed my reaction to this situation in the strongest way possible to draw attention to it,” he added.

In response, Cyprus Basketball Federation chairman Andreas Mouzourides said he “agrees with the sentiment … that sports and friendship must always win and that sports can unite people”, though was keen to make clear that “the message of this particular banner touches all Cypriots and Greeks, and there is no one who disagrees with the essence of the message.”

The banner also drew condemnation from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s chief foreign policy advisor Akif Cagatay Kilic, who called on “international sports and basketball authorities to take action against this political and immoral propaganda.”

“I congratulate [Ataman] for his reaction to the banner, which was not befitting of the ethics of sports,” he said.

Later on Tuesday, Ataman told Turkish news agency Demiroren that Panathinaikos’ upper management is “very angry about this situation”, and that the club’s Gate 13 fan group in Athens had telephoned him to apologise for the banner, telling him the banner “was opened without notice by a group of Greek Cypriots”.

Source: Cyprus Mail