Erdogan opens new Besiktas stadium

The formal opening did not take place inside the stadium -- which was almost entirely empty -- but beneath one of the stands in front of selected VIPs with some complaining normal supporters had been robbed of the chance to participate in the long-awaited event.

Besiktas in 2013 played for the last time at their old stadium in the same historic location on the shores of the Bosphorus just above the Ottoman-era Dolmabahce Palace.

That stadium -- which was named after the second president of modern Turkey Ismet Inonu -- was knocked down and the over 40,000 capacity Vodafone Arena built in its place.

Besiktas, currently locked in a thrilling fight for the league title with arch Istanbul rivals Fenerbahce, have been homeless since then and the opening of the new stadium has been greeted with relief by fans.

"#EveDonuyoruz," tweeted fans. "We are going home."

"I wish our eagles all the best for their new home," said Erdogan, wearing a scarf in the black-and-white colours of Besiktas, known by fans as the "Black Eagles".

"I believe that this stadium we are opening will be embraced by all the fans... Besiktas, Turkey's oldest, most established sports club has long deserved such a stadium," he said before cutting the ribbon.

Erdogan, in his youth a serious amateur player, then engaged in a light-hearted kickabout on the pitch with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his predecessor Abdullah Gul with whom he reportedly has poisoned relations. 

- 'Where are the people?' -

The club was founded as a gymnastics club under the Ottoman Empire in 1903 and its full name is still Besiktas Gymnastics Club (BJK). Its focus rapidly became football but like most Turkish clubs it proudly remains a multi-sports club.

But the presence of Erdogan to open the stadium was not universally popular, with the club's famously leftist and anti-establishment fan club Carsi seen as natural foes of the president.

Carsi members played a key role in 2013 protests against Erdogan over the development of an Istanbul park that represented one of the biggest challenges to his rule.

Thirty five members of the group were put on trial on widely-ridiculed charges of trying to stage a coup but all were acquitted in late December 2015.

The anti-Erdogan Cumhuriyet daily reported that Carsi members had been banned from the event.

It had been expected that the official opening would be on Monday, when Besiktas are due to play their first match at the stadium against Bursaspor, with some suggesting Erdogan did not want to face 40,000 noisy and hostile fans.

"The stadium is being opened by VIPs without taking in its own people! Fear is the best of jokes," tweeted the spokeswoman of the Republican People's Party (CHP) Selin Sayek-Boke.

Several fans meanwhile vented fury that gigantic banners of Erdogan and Davutoglu had been hung outside the stadium and then delight that the wind had wrapped them round a pillar.

"Besiktas is a team of the people. It's not the palace jester. Our wind is enough," tweeted one.

The event was also attended by luminaries from the past of Besiktas including English former manager Gordon Milne, 79, who guided the club in a stellar period from 1987-1994, and taking consecutive titles in 1990, 1991 and 1992.