Greek-Cypriot Athlete Threatened Over Turkish-Cypriot Team Signing

The 35-year-old athlete claims that he has been attacked through social media sites, text messages and by phone. Vassiliou commented to Reuters, "I never wanted to cause any problems and I wasn't looking to make a political statement with my actions."

The Greek-Cypriot player added, "I just wanted to play football and the opportunity presented itself at a club which happened to be in the north, which was willing to pay me more than triple any club was prepared to pay me on this (the Greek Cypriot) side." Due to his Turkish team Degirmenlik affiliation, Vassiliou has been dismissed from his coaching job with Omonoia Aradippou's Under-15s.

The baller described the threats, "Following my first training session with the club after signing with them I came home to find I had 30 missed calls and a number of abusive text messages and figured something had gone wrong...I'm not the first person to go to the north in search of work and I won't be the last but the treatment I've received has been very unfair." Cyprus Turkish Football Association President Hasan Sertoglu said that he was "very disappointed" by the situation.