Ok- maybe I'm stretching a bit. But not really.
Seems that at the Turkey GP last weekend, they allowed the leader of North Cyprus to present the winner's trophy on the podium. This was despite an agreement with the FIA to always remain politically neutral. This after spending countless millions building the Autodrome. This despite later protests by the governments of Cyprus and Greece. Leading to a shitstorm for Max Mosley to fix (almost, but not quite, feel sorry for the cranky old git). The Turkish GP folks openly admitted to this as a piece of protest, stating something to the effect that Turkey embraces the cause of North Cyprus. Lovely.
So the Turkish GP organizers are being called to a meeting. I fully expect there to be a ban on the Turkish GP forever. They did it to Spain for a much more minor infraction (the mayor of a contested area showed up uninvited on the podium). But since this is the kind of thing to spark hefty tensions in a scary place, I can't see them being very lenient.
And there you have it. F1 being relevant for one brief, shining moment.
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I know that the GP was probably not the best forum at which to do it, but I applaud the whole North Cypriot leader fiasco. Those poor Turkish Cypriots have had their own country for over 30 years and no one except Turkey, Taiwan, and the TRNC itself recognise the place as a country -- it's considered "Turkish occupied" Cyprus. I don't know, but if 40% of a country is occupied by an aggressor, shouldn't its allies be there to liberate it? How can the EU sit by when one of its member states is under seige? Is it fear of Turkish reprisal? (They could cut off the majority of the world's supply of apricots and pistachios, not to mention sever one of Europe's primary hashish connexions!!!) On the other hand, does the world fear the Greek reaction to recognising the TRNC as a legitimate state? (Oh my god, they could cut off the feta supply -- no problem, the Bulgarians make a good one, too.) Maybe war would break out and the whole world would be without Ouzo or Raki...
One interesting linguistic footnote: the Turkish name for the Republic of Cyprus (the Greek-speaking southern part) is the Guney Kibris Rum Yonetimi -- the Greek directorate of South Cyprus. (It's actually difficult to translate the "Rum" -- it roughly translates as "Greeks living outside of Greece")
You know, I know very little about the whole thing. Which is definately part of the problem. That it's not common enough knowledge. There must not be oil in the mix...And I thought that all the Greeks cared about was getting the fucking Elgin marbles back.
But that was me being facetious. I'll try harder to pay attention. Because it IS important.
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