17-Year-Old Turkish Cypriot Tahsin Özler Made his Omonia Debut in their Goca Cola cup match against Digenis Ypsonas which they won 3-0 . He came on as a 57th minute substitute.
Tahsin has come has come through the academy and is the second Turkish Cypriot to have played for Omonia’s first team, with the other, Ibrahim Aziz, having featured in the 1956-57 season.
The Cyprus Football Association (CFA) had initially been a bicommunal organisation, with Turkish Cypriot teams featuring in its competitions. Nicosia-based Turkish Cypriot club Cetinkaya being very successful in the 50’s.
However, Turkish Cypriot teams were banned from playing at many Greek Cypriot-owned grounds in 1955, and thus set up their own association, the CTFA, with competitions separate from that of the CFA.
Previous efforts had been made to bring the two communities’ football associations closer had ended in failure.
Lefke TSK, of Lefka, applied to join the CFA in 2011 but eventually withdrew their application after the CFA accepted on the condition that they play all their games in the Republic.
Omonia, which turned 75 on June 4, 2023, is the football club with the largest number of supporters in Cyprus. Omonia’s lexical meaning is concorde and peace. It’s a club whose supporters possess left-wing and socialist values, always advocate for social peace and brotherhood, have a lot to say about the solidarity of the two communities of Cyprus and never engage in racism. It is more like a civil society initiative rather than just a sports club. They did not fall into the trap of nationalism even in troubled times. Its political stance is certainly not its only characteristic.
Another characteristic of Omonia is that it has the broadest fan base among Turkish Cypriots. Because of this, they are accused of being a “Turkish Cypriot” team by right-wing Greek Cypriot fanatics. In fact, it couldn’t be more natural for the overwhelming majority of Turkish Cypriots to feel sympathy towards Omonia considering the values it symbolizes. In short, Omonia is composed of more positive elements than any other sports, political, cultural or social organization.
The Friendly Football Day, organized by Peace and Sport in partnership with Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, in year 2019 brought together Nea Salamina Football Club and the Mağusa Türk Gücü Football Club in a symbolic match in Pyla, on the island of Cyprus, to foster dialogue and cooperation between the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot communities through sport.
This gathering, organized by Peace and Sport was the second of the kind in 64 years, inviting fans from the Greek Cypriot and the Turkish Cypriot communities to rally around the positive values of football. In partnership with the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, the Friendly Football Day gathered children, clubs, families, athletes and leaders of both communities.
In the presence of Mr. Didier Drogba, football star and Vice-President of Peace and Sport, Sir Stelios Haji–Ioannou, Mrs. Elizabeth Spehar, Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, Mr. Nicos Anastasiades, leader of Greek Cypriot community and the two local leaders from both communities in Pyla Mr. Veysal Güden and Simos Mitides, the two teams clubs played against each other in the first half of the game. For the second half of the game they played in mixed teams to demonstrate bi-communal cooperation.