Fenerbahçe is seriously considering withdrawing from the Turkish league following serious incidents in Trabzon on Sunday, where radical supporters of the home team invaded the pitch and assaulted several players after a match full of incidents and throwing of objects onto the pitch. “We will be relegated to a lower league, if necessary,” club president Ali Koç said during a press conference last night.
“We prefer to die once rather than die every day. If necessary, we will play (in the second division) for a year and move up… This is not blackmail or a threat,” said Koç, who announced that Fenerbahçe will hold an extraordinary general assembly on 2 April: an assembly that will discuss the actions to be taken following the incidents in the Fenerbahçe-Trabzonspor match, “including the withdrawal of our football team from the Super League“, a statement issued by the Istanbul-based club confirmed.
“We are going through a crucial period in the history of Fenerbahçe Sports Club. I ask the members to come to the extraordinary assembly and stand by the club, and let’s decide together what to do. Let’s do whatever it takes. This cannot continue,” Koç added in his media appearance, where he announced that he has resigned as president of the Süper Lig professional football clubs’ association.
“What would have happened if only one of the players had been lynched?” the Fenerbahçe president asked, calling the treatment of the club “unacceptable”. “When violence erupts on the football pitch we always say ‘let this be the last time’, but it never will be. We are becoming a country that normalises violence,” lamented Koç, who also echoed criticism of the referee by the team’s coach, İsmail Kartal, for not suspending the match in time. “If Halil Umut Meler were to continue with a match like that (in Europe), UEFA would withdraw his licence. And if the referee had doubts, the TFF should have said that match could not go ahead,” he insisted.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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