While China and the world is getting ready for the 2008 Beijing Olympics in August , Euro 2008 Football Championship attracted millions of fans from allover the world.

June 2008 was a very delightful month for me as I was busy to receive compliments from friends including Chinese, Europeans, Australians and Asians due to Turkish National Team`s performance..

Below some selected headlines from the world media hailing Turkey`s performance in Euro 2008:

"Turkey Advances With a Stunning Late Rally"

"Turkey snatch victory from Croatia"

"Turkey pull off amazing comeback"

"Gracious Turkey returns home with head held high"

 "TURKEY won many fans at Euro 2008 and showed it can become a major force in world soccer thanks to its determination, skill and grace"

What most pleased me is the power of sports that can cement universal friendship and help better understanding of cultures and international issues..

Because of Turkey`s unique geographical location to be a bridge to connect Europe and Asia physically,  I noticed that most of our friends are looking for a clear definition of Turkey`s location whether to call it Europe, Asia or Middle East..  They are right in their assumption as Turkey borders and/or have land in above mentioned major locations.  So, this makes Turkey as an exceptional blend of cultures while being the gateway to Europe, Central Asia and Middle East.

Turkey`s lagest city of Istanbul and its costal city of Dardanelles (home of legendery TROY) are most probably  the only two cities in the world that have land on two different continents (Europe and Asia) .

Here is how wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey) describes Turkey`s location:

"Turkey, known officially as the Republic of Turkey, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in western Asia and Thrace (Rumelia) in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe.

Due to its strategic location astride two continents, Turkey's culture has a unique blend of Eastern and Western tradition. A powerful regional presence in the Eurasian landmass with strong historic, cultural and economic influence in the area between the European Union in the west and Central Asia in the east, Russia in the north and the Middle East in the south, Turkey has come to acquire increasing strategic significance.

Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, constitutional republic whose political system was established in 1923 under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, following the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I. Since then, Turkey has become increasingly integrated with the West through membership in organizations such as the Council of Europe (1949), NATO (1952), OECD (1961), OSCE (1973) and the G20 industrial nations (1999). Turkey began full membership negotiations with the European Union in 2005, having been an associate member since 1963, and having reached a customs union agreement in 1995. Meanwhile, Turkey has continued to foster close political, economic and industrial relations with the Eastern world, particularly with the states of the Middle East, Central Asia and East Asia".

Motto:  "Peace at Home, Peace in the World"

Thanks to such great sports events that enabled us to have a lot of fun and foster universal friendship and bilateral cultural understanding.  We look forward to the Beijing Olympics in the same manner and even with better impact as being a global sports event.

Wish all the best to China as it has been putting huge efforts to ensure better games.

Greetings from Eurasia to all...

< Prev		Next >