ISTANBUL

The Turkish prime minister welcomed Turkey's qualification for the 2016 European football championship in France after their 1-0 win against Iceland on Tuesday, the Prime Ministry said Monday.

Ahmet Davutoglu phoned and congratulated the chairman of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) Yildirim Demiroren and the team captain Arda Turan after Tuesday's victory.

In addition, Akif Cagatay Kilic, the minister of youth and sports, thanked "everyone for their efforts" and wished success to the Turkish national team. 

"I am congratulating our national football team that succeeded in directly qualifying for the European Football Championship," Kilic said in a statement. 

Demiroren added: "We all became excited, our players made us excited; I thank them, they wrote history."

Arda Turan expressed his joy over the victory, saying: "My friends protected their jerseys and their country, and in return they deserved this victory."

The coach of the national team, Fatih Terim, also congratulated the players for this success.

Some Turkish dailies and football commentators expressed their surprise of the team's success and depicted it as "miracle". 

​As the best third-place team in the nine qualifying groups, Turkey avoided having to contest a playoff fixture next month.