Sonia O'Sullivan trailed home fourth behind the irrepressible Paula Radcliffe as the British athlete claimed her a second European Cross Country title in Edinburgh.
However, there was a place on the podium for the Irish team who took silver. The British team took gold, with Portugal third on countback ahead of France.
Radcliffe, a two-time world cross country champion, finished nine seconds ahead of the Turkey's Abeylegesse in a time of 22 minutes 04 seconds, with Hungary's Aniko Kalovics a distant third.
Radcliffe, winner of the title five years ago, finally managed to break clear halfway through the final lap of a thrilling race.
The 29-year-old became the first woman to win the women's individual title for a second time.
In the men's competition, Ukrainian Sergiy Lebid joined Portugal's Paulo Guerra in the record books as a four-time winner.
In his first cross country race of the winter season Lebid scored a runaway success, winning by 21 seconds over the 10,000-metre course.
Lebid became the first runner to claim three successive titles after breaking away on the penultimate lap. Spain's JC de La Ossa crossed the line second in 31:08 with Eduardo Henriques claiming third for Portugal in 31:15.
In a nail-biting team race, France claimed victory over Spain on countback after both finished with 47 points. Portugal were third with 65 and Great Britain seventh on 126.