The second Europa Sail Race which was scheduled for May 5 – June 9 and was to take place between Istanbul (Turkey) and La Rochelle (France) will not take place, French website Mercato365 informs.

Only 8 participants registered and that number is not enough for the race.

To note, the Europa Race was already cancelled once after the French Parliament adopted the bill on criminalizing denial of the Armenian Genocide, but after the French Constitutional Council announced the bill to be unconstitutional the preparations for the race were set to motion again.

The statement of the Turkish organizer of the race reads as follows:

“The time which was lost because of the political problems between Turkey and France cannot be overtaken. Besides with that budget the partners of the race must consult their managements in order to approve the route changes and number of ships which decreased to 8 from 10. Moreover, the landmark point cities cannot support the race as needed because of budget shortage due to the economic crisis.”