ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey fans booed during the minute’s silence for the victims of the Paris attacks before their national team drew 0-0 with Greece in a friendly international soccer game on Tuesday.
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The mark of respect was observed at matches across Europe, including at Wembley where France faced England, after Islamic State militants struck Paris on Friday killing 129 people.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras watched the game together, in a sign of reconciliation between the two neighbours, whose relationship has suffered from hostilities in the past.
It was the first time the two teams had met for eight years and the Turkish Football Federation had announced a string of additional security measures before the match at the Istanbul Basaksehir stadium, which was a 17,000 sell out.
Turkey, who have not lost this year, are preparing ahead of Euro 2016, which they qualified for in third place in their group. They enjoyed a 2-1 victory away to Qatar last week.
Greece’s German coach Michael Skibbe led out a team in Turkey for the first time since he had spells at Galatasaray, Eskisehirspor and Karabukspor from 2008 to October this year.
However, the occasion was a disappointment with both teams trying out new players in a game of few chances with former European champions Greece, who failed to qualify for the Euros, having just one goal attempt against Turkey’s 12.
(Writing by Ece Toksabay; editing by Ken Ferris)
