israel

[ivor II]

why do israel play in european football competitions & Eurovision song contest when their country is in asia

[Lonnie]

This explains in part, although its only dealing with the song contest, its also true for football.

http://www.answers.com/topic/european-broadcas ting-union

[Lonnie]

Sorry, the part that should have shown, didn't, but Israel is in the EBU, and thats the reason,

[anotheoldgit]

The same can be said for Turkey, although they are not in the EEC, yet.

[Lonnie]

I stand to be corrected if i'm wrong, but I thought Turkey was part of the European Continent, the reason there is such a furore over them joining the EEC, is because they are such a large Muslim nation, and to have that many Muslims joing at the same time, has got our leaders just a little bit worried.

[anotheoldgit]

Hi Lonnie, please stand to be corrected, although you are somewhat correct, a very small part does indeed lie in southeastern Europe.

Turkey :- Country, western Asia and southeastern Europe. Area: 299,158 sq mi (774,815 sq km), nearly all of which lies in Asia. Population (2005 est.): 72,083,000. Capital: Ankara.

Wasn't it once called Asia Minor?

[Lonnie]

Hi aog, your absolutely correct, I just checked, I am now corrected, but only on the Geography of the region.

[anotheoldgit]

Hi once again Lonnie,

Yes I agree with the rest of your post.
But they sowed the seeds and they are now beginning to reap the harvest.

Oh dear where will it end?

[Goodsoulette]

The reason there have been issues with Turkey joining the EU has been to do with their human rights issues. Then have been an affiliated state for many years but had been refused membership because of some of their policies regarding many subjects, including human rights and farming.

[Hammond Egg]

Israel isn't recognised as a legitimate sovereign nation by several countries in Asia. They therefore wouldn't be admitted to the Asian Football Confederation - many of their potential opponents would refuse to play them. Europe, and hence UEFA, is the next most logical place for them to compete.

[ivor II]

thank hammond egg. that more or less answers my question ivor II

[keyvan]

Why would other Asian countries not want to play Turkey that is also a muslim country and yet they play in Europe?

As andtheoldgit said 95% of it lies in Asia in what is known as Asia Minor and they also play in Europe. The same rational that applied to Israel does not seem to work with Turkey?

[jno]

there aren't concrete walls between the continents, after all. Russia also lies in two of them. Cross the Bosphorus and you'd never notice you were in a different continent. Turkey wants to be considered part of Europe. The French in particular don't want it to be. Israel isn't in Europe at all (though it's no further east than Moscow), but it's probably got more in common with Britain than with, say, China. These are all fudges, but they're based on the fact that countries and customs change gradually, not suddenly, as you cross the world.