The flag issue between Turkey and Azerbaijan has costa police officer his job.
A police officer who put Azerbaijani flags into a box after the world football governing body, FIFA, banned these flags from entering the stadium in Bursa for the Turkey-Armenia football match was laid off temporarily.
The governorship of Bursa also started a disciplinary investigation into two other officers for their action during the Oct. 14 match, which caused a crisis between Turkey and Azerbaijan.
The Azerbaijani flag was not allowed to enter the stadium during the Turkey-Armenia 2010 World Cup qualifying football match following orders from FIFA. As a result, police prevented groups that wanted to bring Azerbaijani flags into the stadium to protest the decision. When some of the police officers were unable to find a place to put the flags they had confiscated, they put them into a box at the entrance of the stadium in area close to the restrooms.
The event caused a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Azerbaijan, including the removal of Turkish flags at the martyrdom monument in Azerbaijan and in front of a Turkish diplomatic mission. The Azerbaijani press argued that the removal was reciprocity for the Turkish ban on Azerbaijani flags during the Turkey-Armenia game.
The crisis began to ease when Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoрlu met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and the ministerТs Azerbaijani counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov, in Baku last Thursday.
The governorship of Bursa has launched an investigation about those involved in the event. In a press conference on Saturday, Gov. Sahabettin Harput said they had studied video recorded by police, along with video from 10 national television channels and three local channels.
Harput said some civilians who had caused disturbances were identified by studying the videos and that criminal charges were pending against the people in question.
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