Cyprus braces for grudge football match with Turkish club

A Greek-Cypriot fan goes through security check in Nicosia in 2005. Cyprus said it would launch a massive security operation to ensure the UEFA Cup second qualifying match between the Cypriot team APOEL and Turkish side Trabzonspor goes off without incident.

Cyprus said it would launch a massive security operation to ensure the UEFA Cup second qualifying match between the Cypriot team APOEL and Turkish side Trabzonspor goes off without incident.

Hundreds of riot police and anti-terrorist units with sniffer dogs will form several security rings inside and outside the Nicosia venue for Thursday's home leg of the grudge match.

"There will be around 400 people deployed," Nicosia police chief Christakis Dyonisiou told reporters.

Police said all fans would be searched on their way into the 23,000 capacity GSP stadium and banners and flags would be prohibited.

"There will be triple, and in some cases, quadruple checks. Nobody will be allowed in the stadium without a ticket," Dyonisiou said.

Police also appealed for restraint from fans as APOEL Nicosia are set for the rare football clash with the Turkish team.

"I want to appeal to all those involved in football to use their influence on supporters so this is a sporting affair with no incidents," said the police chief.

Trabzonspor are returning to the island a year after they were knocked out of the second qualifying round of the Champions League 3-2 by Anorthosis in the first-ever clash between the two countries.

Both legs ended without incident despite the sensitive politics involved.

Ironically, in 1986 APOEL earned a two-year ban after refusing to play Besiktas of Istanbul in Turkey in a European Cup qualifier over security fears.

However, Cypriot authorities do not expect any away fans from Trabzon on Turkey's Black Sea coast.

It is yet unknown whether Turkish Cypriot fans will cross the UN-patrolled Green Line that divides the island and support the Turkish club from seats in the home end.

The police operation will be as big as those mounted two years ago when Israeli club Maccabi Haifa was forced to play its home fixtures in the Champions League in neutral Nicosia following UEFA's ban on matches in Israel due to Middle East violence.

The politics of the Cyprus problem has ensured that Cyprus-Turkey sporting contact is rare. Turkish troops occupy the northern third of the Mediterranean island, which has been divided since 1974 following an Athens-engineered coup aiming to unite the island with Greece.