Political farce now finally at an end?The FIA today cut in half the five-million-dollar fine imposed on the organisers of the Turkish Grand Prix over last year's podium controversy.
"We had lodged an appeal for the fine to be reduced, and as a result half of the
fine has been cancelled," Mumtaz Tahincioglu, the Turkish Automobile Sports Federation (TOSFED), told the Anatolia news agency.
The organisers had already paid the remaining half of the fine.
The dispute with FIA erupted after Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat made the trophy presentation at the August 2006 Formula One race in Istanbul, drawing angry protests from Greek Cypriots.
Talat is the president of the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), which is recognized only by Ankara.
The Greek Cypriot government in the south is internationally recognized as the administration of the whole island, divided along ethnic lines since 1974.
FIA had ruled that the organisers had broken Formula One rules for politicising the event by allowing the leader of an unrecognised country to preside over the ceremony.
Source AFP
