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Football in Turkey has been suspended after the president of an Ankara club punched a referee and fans stormed the pitch following a contentious league match, an incident that has ignited a furious backlash in the country.
Faruk Koca, president of the Ankaragücü club, struck referee Halil Umut Meler in the face during a Süper Lig match against Çaykur Rizespor on Monday evening. The match official was later kicked as he lay on the ground, according to Turkey’s justice ministry. Koca and two others were arrested following the incident, and the Turkish Football Federation suspended all leagues.
The confrontation triggered a powerful reaction in Turkey, a country where football is deeply intertwined with society and politics. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan condemned the incident, saying “sport is incompatible with violence” and later offered the referee well-wishes in a phone call. The most popular Turkish hashtag on social media site X on Tuesday said “this punch is against all of us”.
The incident, which left Meler hospitalised, came after home side Ankaragücü conceded an injury-time equaliser to Çaykur Rizespor. Meler told investigators that Koca punched him under his eye and he was later kicked “many times in the face and other parts of my body” while on the ground, according to local media.
“This inhumane and despicable attack has been inflicted on all stakeholders of Turkish football,” the Turkish Football Federation said, as it criticised club presidents, managers, television commentators and others who “paved the way” for the incident.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino added that “events following the Turkish Süper Lig match . . . are totally unacceptable and have no place in our sport or society”. Uefa, European football’s governing body, has yet to comment.
Koca, a Turkish businessman and former MP, was charged by Ankara prosecutors for alleged “crimes of injuring and threatening a public servant”, according to justice minister Yılmaz Tunç. He also faces potential expulsion from Erdoğan’s Justice and Development party, state media reported.
Koca denied the accusations, according to a statement to local media in which he referred to the strike against Meler as a “slap”. “My aim was to verbally react to the referee and spit in his face,” Koca said. “This incident developed due to the referee’s wrong decisions and provocative behaviour.”
Ankaragücü apologised and said it was “saddened by the incident”.
Football is big business in Turkey, where fans have a strong allegiance to their teams. The top-level Süper Lig was scheduled to hold 13 games over the next week alone. Turkey is to host its first Uefa European Football Championship, along with Italy, in 2032.
The sport has for years been a key outlet for expressing political views in a country where swaths of the media are controlled by or aligned with Erdoğan’s government.
Supporters of two large Istanbul clubs, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş, criticised Erdoğan’s response to the devastating February earthquake, in a rare public rebuke of the president. Football fans also played a big role in the 2013 Gezi demonstrations, which began in Istanbul and morphed into a nationwide movement against Erdoğan’s government.
Additional reporting by Josh Noble in London
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