The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been closely following the developments related to the forthcoming Galatasaray-Leeds United football match. Close contact and cooperation with the Galatasaray Club was maintained and the information and requests received from them were evaluated with utmost care and necessary steps were taken. Our Embassy in London has been in close contact all the time with British authorities.

As it was announced in our previous press releases, our Ministry, in line with its duties, has been giving the first priority to ensure that necessary measures be taken for the safety of the players and the technical crew of the Galatasaray Club, all our citizens and Turkish residents of Britain. To this end, demarches were made both in Ankara with the Embassy of U.K. and by our Embassy in London with the British Foreign Office and it was explicitly stressed that the responsibility of the safety of the Turkish citizens who will go to Leeds rests with the UK authorities. Minister Cem conveyed our requests and expectations by a letter sent to his British counterpart, Minister Cook.

In reply to these initiatives, the British authorities responded by informing that our requests were carefully studied and noted and that all kinds of measures were taken to make sure that 20th April match would be played safely, the players and Turkish spectators would return from England in safety. This was noted with satisfaction by us.

A liasion office has been set up in Leeds by our Embassy in London, with the participation of some Ministry officials, aiming at continuing the contacts with the local authorities efficiently and providing help and assistance to our citizens who will go for the match.

It is known that the Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, several Ministers and representatives of political parties will be travelling to Leeds for the match.

Furthermore, we know that another group of deputies will also be travelling to Leeds and that the Galatasaray Club is spending a great deal of efforts to find tickets for them. These developments have been taken up by the Ministry in so much as they relate to the Ministry's field of work and our close contact and cooperation with Galatasaray Club and other relevant authorities have been continued.

No doubt those sporadic and unwanted events in İstanbul before the first match has caused great regret for everyone of us. The aim of sportive competitions is to bring the societies closer and to strengthen the feelings of friendship. We hope that the Galatasaray-Leeds United match will be played in this atmosphere.

We sincerely wish that Galatasaray football team, which has been a source of pride for us through its achievements to date, would continue its success and become the first Turkish team to play final match for the UEFA Cup.