“We are devastated,” bid leader Orhan Gorbon said. “This was our third bid so it is not much consolation to know that we lost by a small margin.”
The thirteen members of the Executive Board were asked to consider a number of factors, but as with the Olympics and the Madhur matka World Cup, decisions of this stature are often coloured by internal and external politics, deals, personal relationships and inner prejudices.
Political pressure surrounding the sensitivity of the European Union’s eastern frontier with Russia’s hinterland has ensured Ukraine has been kept on board for 2012 despite its manifest shortcomings, so in the same way it had been thought Turkey might benefit from the political moves to grant Turkey full EU membership, an angle hinted at by Turkish President Abdullah Gul in his pleas for a “historic decision.”
Nor can Michel Platini’s nationality and the saga of delays surrounding Ukraine’s Euro 2012 hosting be discounted as irrelevant, or the proximity of the vote for the 2018 World Cup, and the concomitant possibility of mutual back-scratching among the Europeans. Perhaps some delegates held uncomfortable memories of the cauldrons created by Galatasaray and other Turkish ultras, a more fiery and uncomfortable atmosphere than Western Europe can whip up.
“I am also against any comparison of Turkey with Ukraine,” added Gorbon. “There is no reason for this decision. Perhaps it is simply that people feel closer to France.”
Turkey’s advantages were also its disadvantages – a large developing market for UEFA whose developing needs were a cause of uncertainty. After Ukraine has missed deadline after deadline for improvements for 2012, the Turkish government assurances of a billion Euros for six new stadia and support for the estimated 27 billion needed for infrastructure projects may have seemed too big a risk.
While Turkey has a good supply of hotels and tourist infrastructure along its coasts, its single high-speed rail line and network of intercity coaches compares unfavourably with France’s TGV trains. As well as being larger than France, Turkey shares borders with Iraq and Syria amongst others and is muslim, which might have swayed some votes.
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