Baghdatis triggers an ethnic row

MELBOURNE: Marcos Baghdatis defended his actions Friday after being captured on video chanting anti-Turkish slogans with the Greek supporters' group involved in a clash with police at the Australian Open.   

Videos circulating on the Internet, and broadcast here, show the Greek Cypriot, an Australian Open finalist in 2006, holding a flare and chanting "Turks Out of Cyprus" at a barbeque hosted by the Hellas Fan Club.   

Members of the group were involved in a row at Melbourne Park Tuesday that led to police using pepper spray to subdue rowdy fans, with 10 people ejected and three arrested.   

Baghdatis was shown with the alleged ringleader of Tuesday's trouble, who has been banned from the rest of the tournament and is expected to be charged with assaulting police and resisting arrest.    

In one video, the world number 16 holds a burning flare above his head and joins a chant with others condemning Turkish occupation of parts of Cyprus.   

"Turks out of Cyprus," the group chants twice, after singing the Greek national anthem, the Melbourne Age reported.   
The video was shot last year and surfaced on You Tube.   

Its emergence comes at a sensitive time for the Australian Open which has seen ethnic rivalry surface in crowd trouble in the past.   

In a statement, Baghdatis offered no apology.   

"In that video from 2007 I was supporting the interest of my country, Cyprus, while protesting against a situation that is not recognized by the United Nations," he said.   

"Now I would like to concentrate on the tournament and ask everyone to respect that. I love the Australian Open and want to do well here."   

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey invaded the island's northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia aimed at union with Greece.   

International efforts to reunify the island have stalled.   

The Hellas Fan Club, which is part of a worldwide network of supporters of Hellenic athletes, said the slogans chanted had been misconstrued.   

"The 'Turks out of Cyprus' chant is directed towards the well documented illegal occupation of Cyprus, and is not directed towards citizens of the Turkish ethnic minority," it said in a statement.   

Earlier in the tournament, Baghdatis defended the Greek supporters involved in the ugly scenes this week during a match between Chilean Fernando Gonzalez and Konstantinos Economidis of Greece.   

It emerged Friday that one of those thrown out that night was a cousin of Baghdatis.   

His VIP pass was stripped by authorities for unruly behaviour after being accused of pouring beer over a police officer's head, the Sun Herald reported.   

The Australian Turkish Cypriot Cultural and Welfare Association on Friday demanded an apology from Baghdatis.   

"This is a straight-forward provocation of our community and he is playing a different game to sport, he is not being a sportsman and should apologise,"  president Hakki Suleyman told reporters.   

Greek community groups though played down the furore, with the president of the Greek Orthodox Community of Melbourne and Victoria saying relations between the city's Greek and Turkish communities were "great".   

Baghdatis beat Marat Safin in a five-set thriller on Thursday and now plays Australian Lleyton Hewitt in the third round on Saturday.   

Victorian police would not comment on its approach toward any specific match but said there would be no change to its security arrangements for Hewitt match.   

Then ranked 54, Baghdatis captivated crowds and the media at the 2006 Australian Open when he made the final before going down to Roger Federer.