Links With The Past: Gifts From AEK Athens
When City played the away leg of their Europa League tie against AEK Athens in October, the Club was presented with this double-headed eagle statuette.
The eagle can also clearly be seen on the shirt crest worn by the Greek side’s centre-back Stratos Svarnas in the game and on the pennant presented to Leicester at that match.
The double-headed eagle symbol is full of historical significance for AEK Athens.
AEK is an abbreviation of Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos. Translated, this means ‘Athletic Union of Constantinople.’
What was the link between this Greek club and Constantinople, (now known as Istanbul), which is Turkey’s largest city, and why was the double-headed eagle chosen as the club’s crest?
For centuries, when both Greece and Turkey were part of the Ottoman Empire ruled by Turkish Sultans, there had been a large Greek population in Constantinople.
Between 1919 and 1922, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of the First World War, there was a war between Greece and Turkey.
One result of the war was a population exchange treaty between the two nations.
Over 1.5M ethnic Greeks in Turkey, including those in Constantinople, were forced to leave for Greece and 500,000 Turks in Greece headed for Turkey.
In 1924, some of the Greek refugees who fled from Constantinople to Athens formed a multi-sports club called ‘The Athletic Union of Constantinople’ (AEK).
This club became well known for its professional football team, which became the most successful Greek club in European competitions, where it is commonly referred to as AEK Athens.
The double-headed eagle was chosen as AEK’s emblem because it was a reminder of the refugees’ long standing ties with the Greek Orthodox Church in Constantinople which, for historic reasons going back centuries, had used the double-headed eagle as a symbol.