Emre earns Turkey call-up
12 May 2008 - 12:19:55
Newcastle United midfielder Emre and Middlesbrough striker Tuncay have been included in Fatih Terim's initial 26-man Turkey squad for next month's European Championship in Austria and Switzerland.
However, veteran striker Hakan Sukur has been left out of despite making eight appearances during the qualifying process.
Bayern Munich forward Hamit Altintop is included even though he is currently sidelined with a broken foot, while Fenerbahce striker Colin Kazim-Richards also makes the cut.
Turkey are scheduled to play friendlies against Slovakia, Uruguay and Finland in their build-up to Euro 2008 before tackling Portugal, Switzerland and the Czech Republic in the tournament itself.
The initial 26-man squad is:
Goalkeepers: Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahce), Rustu Recber (Besiktas), Tolga Zengin (Trabzonspor).
Defenders: Gokhan Gonul (Fenerbahce), Sabri Sarioglu (Galatasaray), Gokhan Zan (Besiktas), Ibrahim Kas (Besiktas), Emre Asik (Galatasaray), Servet Cetin (Galatasaray), Hakan Balta (Galatasaray), Ugur Boral (Fenerbahce).
Midfielders: Mehmet Aurelio (Fenerbahce), Mehmet Topal (Galatasaray), Emre Belozoglu (Newcastle), Tumer Metin (Larissa), Yildiray Basturk (Stuttgart), Hamit Altintop (Bayern Munich), Ayhan Akman (Galatasaray), Arda Turan (Galatasaray), Tuncay Sanli (Middlesbrough), Kazim Kazim (Fenerbahce), Gokdeniz Karadeniz (Rubin Kazan).
Forwards: Nihat Kahveci (Villarreal), Halil Altintop (Schalke), Semih Senturk (Fenerbahce), Mevlut Erding (Sochaux).