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The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan has added his voice to thousands of others who have been condemning a shocking racism slur used by a UEFA fourth official, Sebastian Colescu from Romania, on assistant manager of Turkish Club, Istanbul Besakhsehir, Pierre Achilles Webo of Cameroon.
The comment was made during a UEFA Champions League game against Paris Saint German in France.
It was at the 14th Minute of the encounter when the controversy sprout.
Officiating referee, Ovidiu Haegen had come to the touchline to give Achilles Webo his marching orders to leave the pitch due to his antics on the touchline.
That was when he brought to the others that the Fourth Official of the game had used the demeaning N-word to refer to him when he had to be booked.
“Why did you say N*?, I am asking you why did you say N?” he was heard asking the fourth official who had very little to say.
Visibly bemused by the words of their colleague, the other UEFA officials on the pitch gathered to the touchline to try to calm the players and the coaching staff who had ganged up on the racist fourth official.
Senegalese striker who plays for the Turkish Club, Istanbul Besakhsehir approached the fourth official and asked him “When you talk about a black guy, why do you refer to him as that black guy whereas if he were white you would have simply said That Guy and not That White Guy?” he questioned.
In protest, the Istanbul Besakhsehir players would refuse to return to the pitch for the resumption of the game despite the efforts of the other UEFA officials to convince them to.
In solidarity, the players of the opposition team, Paris Saint German led by Kilian Mbappe and Neymar Junior also abandoned the match and walked off the pitch 15 Minutes after kickoff.
The Paris Saint German players said it was a disgraceful thing the fourth official had done and that no one was going to return to the pitch unless the racist fourth official was taken out of the match.
Turkish President has since condemned what was said to the Cameroonian coach, Pierre Achilles Webo.
“I strongly condemn the racist remarks made against Pierre Webo… and I am convinced that UEFA will take necessary measures. We are unconditionally against racism and discrimination in sports and all other areas of life” he wrote on twitter.
