FIA order Turkish GP meeting

Turkish Grand Prix organisers have been summoned before world governing body the FIA, accused of breaching Formula One rules.

Controversy erupted after organisers put forward Turkish-Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat to present the winner’s trophy to Felipe Massa in Istanbul on Sunday.

The Turkish-controlled area of northern Cyprus is not recognised as a separate country by the United Nations and the FIA expressed anger that their political neutrality had apparently been compromised.

Now the Turkish federation TOSFED and race organisers MSO have been called to a special meeting of the FIA’s world motor sport council where they will face charges of breaching FIA and Formula One rules.

The FIA’s action places the future of the Turkish Grand Prix in doubt, with the governing body taking such breaches of protocol very seriously.

In 1997 the Spanish circuit of Jerez was barred from hosting Formula One after the town’s mayor disrupted a podium ceremony.