Did Uefa red card human rights 'fouls' in denying Turkey Euro 2024?

Did Uefa red card human rights 'fouls' in denying Turkey Euro 2024?
If Uefa scored the Turkish and German bids to host Euro 2024 on human rights, the result might have been something like this. / CeeGee.
By bne IntelliNews September 27, 2018

Uefa has awarded the Euro 2024 football championship to Germany rather than Turkey—and Ankara’s approach to basic human rights during its two-year-long state of emergency may have been a significant factor in the decision, announced on September 27.

At the start of this week, an evaluation report by European football's governing body concluded that there were matters “of concern” that stood in the way of making Turkey the host of Euro 2024. Among those matters, it said, were Turkey's lack of a human rights action plan.

In the wake of the failed coup in mid-2016, the Turkish government introduced an emergency regime under which scores of thousands of people were subsequently detained or fired from their jobs in massive purges and Turkey became the biggest jailer of journalists in the world. Turkey’s bid for European Union membership was derailed as European governments expressed outrage at Ankara’s conduct under the regime, finally brought to an end in July this year after snap parliamentary and presidential elections.

Before announcing the winner, Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said Germany and Turkey had both made "very strong bids". After announcing the winner was Germany by 12 votes to four, with one abstention, he added: "The procedure was transparent. The voting was democratic. Every democratic decision is the right decision so I can only say I am looking forward to seeing a fantastic Euro in 2024."

Limited hotel capacity
The evaluation report also drew attention to limited hotel capacity in many Turkish cities. The scale of transport infrastructure work required to ready the country for hosting the tournament was, meanwhile, labelled "a risk"—and that particular risk may have grown last week given that Ankara, addressing ongoing economic turmoil, opted to adopt a fiscal plan that cancels new government investments including infrastructure projects.

Looking at the transport infrastructure challenge Turkey would face in getting ready for the championships, the report stated: "The scale of works to be undertaken in the given time frame constitutes a risk, especially in combination with the dependence on a few airports for international and domestic travel."

Turkey’s failure to land the European football championship will be a big disappointment to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a big football fan. And that disappointment may be aggravated by the fact that the tournament, has gone to Germany—the loudest, most persistent European critic of the arbitrary arrests and other human rights infringements that the EU claimed took place during the state of emergency.

Coincidentally, Erdogan will spend September 28-29 in Germany on an official visit, during which he hopes to repair relations with Berlin.

The tournament was awarded to Germany after the Germans and Turks made final bid presentations before a vote took place in Nyon, Switzerland.

Uefa's report stated that Turkey's Euro 2024 bid was founded on bringing people together by promoting an intercultural dialogue "thanks to its location between three continents".

Never hosted a major football tournament
Turkey has never hosted a major international football tournament. Running Euro 2024 would have proved exceptionally attractive to the country as it would have helped mark the end of celebrations for the 100-year anniversary of the establishment of the republic of Turkey, as well as its football federation.

Turkey has seen previous attempts to host the Euros in 2008, 2012 and 2016 fail to persuade Uefa. Its bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics also failed to win the day.

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