Emre Belozoglu has bid his farewells to the Toon Army and embraced the Turkish army. It is almost three weeks since the midfield player was given permission to discuss personal terms with Fenerbahce, but his £3 million transfer from Newcastle United has been postponed while he unravels the complexities of his country’s system of compulsory national service.

With neither club announcing the completion of the deal, concerns had been raised that the 27-year-old, who had a dreadful record with injuries on Tyneside, had failed a medical. Since being pictured wearing a Fenerbahce shirt, the Turkey captain injured his hamstring during his side’s Group A fixture against Portugal and has not subsequently played, but those fears have now been allayed.

Instead, a senior figure at St James’ Park has told The Times that Emre “will have national service obligations if he gets the timing of his return to Turkey wrong and that is the only reason for the delay.” He added that he “would still expect (the transfer) to go through,” but it appears the formalities may not be finalised until next month.

A spokesman for Fenerbahce confirmed last night Emre would undertake 21 days of military training once Turkey’s participation at Euro 2008 comes to a close. “We will send him for national service after the European Championships, but there is no problem with the transfer,” he said.

All Turkish men between the ages of 21 and 40 are required to serve up to 15 months in the military, although there are some exceptions. Citizens who have worked outside the country for at least three consecutive years can pay a fee of Euros 5112 and undergo basic training for three weeks; while Emre played for Inter Milan prior to joining Newcastle, the three-year anniversary of his transfer falls on July 14.

Newcastle have been informed that the price for Arda Turan, a longstanding target, has now increased following his heroics for Turkey. The club’s new-look recruitment department had initially hoped to push through a deal before the championship began, but with Arsenal also interested, Galatasaray now value him at almost £16 million.