ISTANBUL (AP) 鈥� Turkish state broadcaster TRT has removed a commentator from its roster after he mixed up Iran and New Zealand teams.
TRT said in a statement late on Tuesday that the commentator, identified by Turkish media as Murat Ekrem 脟imen, had been withdrawn from the World Cup broadcast team in the U.S. pending investigation. It added that he would not continue to comment on matches during the tournament.
According to reports in Turkish media, Cimen referred to Iran鈥檚 attacks as New Zealand鈥檚 and described New Zealand鈥檚 moves as Iran鈥檚 during the opening minutes of the broadcast. The teams on Monday night in Group G.
TRT said the mistake was 鈥渦nacceptable鈥� under its broadcasting standards.
鈥淲e apologize to our viewers and the public for this error,鈥� it said. 鈥淚t is unacceptable for TRT that someone with over 30 years of experience in sports broadcasting would make such a mistake.鈥�
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