 Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan says the Türk Telekom Arena is a government investment. AA photo |
Government officials did not deserve the protests they received at the opening ceremony of the Galatasaray football team’s new stadium, a 100-percent government investment, the Turkish prime minister said Sunday.
“The Türk Telekom Arena has been built by TOKİ [Turkey’s Housing Development Administration]; Galatasaray did not even spend a kuruş on it,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, adding that the process of handing over the complex from TOKİ to Galatasaray has not yet been completed.
Erdoğan left the arena before the opening match Saturday night after Galatasaray supporters started booing him when his arrival was announced on the stadium’s big screen. The protests intensified during a speech by TOKİ Chairman Erdoğan Bayraktar. Other ministers, football federation officials and some club chairmen joined the prime minister in leaving the stadium following the outcry.
The fans present at the stadium were not the ones responsible for the protests, Erdoğan said. “The Galatasaray community also felt indisposed [by the events],” he said.
Galatasaray’s executive board convened in an extraordinary meeting at the Türk Telekom Arena on Sunday to discuss the incident. Chairman Adnan Polat told reporters after the meeting that the team was very sorry about the protests, daily Milliyet reported on its website.
“We do not consider [the protesters] to be Galatasaray fans,” Polat said, adding that all those who booed the prime minister would be identified using recordings from the arena’s 200 security cameras and would not be allowed to enter the stadium in the future. The chairman also asked the prime minister’s forgiveness for what happened in the Türk Telecom Arena.
Saturday night was not the first time Erdoğan was protested at a sporting event. During the medal ceremony of the World Basketball Championship in Turkey on Sept. 12, the prime minister and President Abdullah Gül were widely protested by spectators when they stepped onto the court to present the medals.
Police later identified some fans from video footage; they were charged with insulting state officials.
Protest was organized, director says
The protests against Erdoğan at Türk Telekom Arena received a fierce reaction from members of his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and government officials.
“I think what happened there was organized in advance,” Yunus Akgül, the general director of the Youth and Sports Directorate, said Saturday night, adding that Galatasaray fans had not demonstrated such behavior in the past. “I don’t think what happened was done by Galatasaray fans; it was an organized movement... a very bad organization. We are leaving [the stadium] with very bad memories tonight.”
Akgül said the idea to build Galatasaray’s new stadium in Istanbul’s Seyrantepe district had first been proposed by Erdoğan, when he was the city’s mayor.
State Minister Faruk Çelik, who is also responsible for sports, said the protesters could not be Galatasaray fans. “[The protest] was greatly unjust to Erdoğan and we do not associate it with the Galatasaray club.”
Yasin Ekrem Serim, an adviser to the General Secretariat of European Affairs in Turkey, reacted harshly against the protests on the social-networking website Twitter, writing: “There is no such dishonesty... you are ungrateful... Thanks to whom do you think you can watch a match in that stadium, who built that stadium for you? You rattlebrained idiots.” His account has since been blocked.
“The Türk Telekom Arena has been built by TOKİ [Turkey’s Housing Development Administration]; Galatasaray did not even spend a kuruş on it,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, adding that the process of handing over the complex from TOKİ to Galatasaray has not yet been completed.
Erdoğan left the arena before the opening match Saturday night after Galatasaray supporters started booing him when his arrival was announced on the stadium’s big screen. The protests intensified during a speech by TOKİ Chairman Erdoğan Bayraktar. Other ministers, football federation officials and some club chairmen joined the prime minister in leaving the stadium following the outcry.
The fans present at the stadium were not the ones responsible for the protests, Erdoğan said. “The Galatasaray community also felt indisposed [by the events],” he said.
Galatasaray’s executive board convened in an extraordinary meeting at the Türk Telekom Arena on Sunday to discuss the incident. Chairman Adnan Polat told reporters after the meeting that the team was very sorry about the protests, daily Milliyet reported on its website.
“We do not consider [the protesters] to be Galatasaray fans,” Polat said, adding that all those who booed the prime minister would be identified using recordings from the arena’s 200 security cameras and would not be allowed to enter the stadium in the future. The chairman also asked the prime minister’s forgiveness for what happened in the Türk Telecom Arena.
Saturday night was not the first time Erdoğan was protested at a sporting event. During the medal ceremony of the World Basketball Championship in Turkey on Sept. 12, the prime minister and President Abdullah Gül were widely protested by spectators when they stepped onto the court to present the medals.
Police later identified some fans from video footage; they were charged with insulting state officials.
Protest was organized, director says
The protests against Erdoğan at Türk Telekom Arena received a fierce reaction from members of his ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and government officials.
“I think what happened there was organized in advance,” Yunus Akgül, the general director of the Youth and Sports Directorate, said Saturday night, adding that Galatasaray fans had not demonstrated such behavior in the past. “I don’t think what happened was done by Galatasaray fans; it was an organized movement... a very bad organization. We are leaving [the stadium] with very bad memories tonight.”
Akgül said the idea to build Galatasaray’s new stadium in Istanbul’s Seyrantepe district had first been proposed by Erdoğan, when he was the city’s mayor.
State Minister Faruk Çelik, who is also responsible for sports, said the protesters could not be Galatasaray fans. “[The protest] was greatly unjust to Erdoğan and we do not associate it with the Galatasaray club.”
Yasin Ekrem Serim, an adviser to the General Secretariat of European Affairs in Turkey, reacted harshly against the protests on the social-networking website Twitter, writing: “There is no such dishonesty... you are ungrateful... Thanks to whom do you think you can watch a match in that stadium, who built that stadium for you? You rattlebrained idiots.” His account has since been blocked.
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