ISTANBUL - The Turkish billards federation and some other European billiards nations, which are not yet mentioned, have been suspended by the European billards federation (CEB) because of payment arrears. The world federation, UMB, has taken over the suspension. Because of that penalty, Turkish billiard are threatened in participating in international tournaments.
The billiard players from these countries are provisionally excluded from participation in major tournaments like the World championship for national teams in Viersen, the World Cup in Athens and the Euro Grand Prix artistic in Marseille this month. The World Cup in Istanbul will certainly be played. The tournament was already announced and opened before the suspension was enounced.
The suspension is considered within the UMB and CEB as an extremely delicate matter. UMB (world federation) president Jean Claude Dupont: ,,The situation is as follows: Turkey (and some other European federations) are suspended by CEB due to non-payment of certain funds. We have been informed of this by the CEB, but meanwhile we had opened the invitation to the World Cup in Istanbul. Conformity with earlier agreements, that suspension would not apply to this organization, but to all the other events that have to be opened. And it's meant for both the federation and the organizer.''
The sanction of suspension is handled by both CEB and by UMB as the ultimate leverage to encourage payment. That happened recently with the UMB suspension for Mexico.
The UMB (world federation), says Jean Claude Dupont, is not only statutorily forced to respect these CEB sanctions, but it is also its own politics. ,,I absolutely don't want to hide behind the CEB decision on the contrary, I personally agree completely.''
The suspensions are not usually proclaimed worldwide, because of the expectation that an arrangement with the federation can stop the suspension. That's not the case for the time being.
The next UMB organization is the World championships for nation teams in Viersen.
From Turkey has been reported currently that the situation has stirred up a big internal turmoil. It would be a backlog of several thousand euros, which has to do with government subsidies.
The Turkish President Ugur Kurugöllü and some prominent billiard players are actively working on new efforts to resolve the situation.