Galatasaray, Diyarbakır hope to leave controversy behind

Galatasaray and Diyarbakırspor look to leave controversy behind and focus on football in the Turkcell Super League match on Sunday.

However, the Lions’ visit to the southeastern city has already passed the borders of a simple football match and became a starting point for political debate after Diyarbakırspor Chairman Çetin Sümer announced that the team would withdraw from the league last Sunday.

Sümer initially said that the team would not play the game against Galatasaray after alleging that their league game against Gaziantepspor on Sunday was marred by the decisions of referee Süleyman Abay and offensive chanting by home-team fans.

This was the second time that Diyarbakırspor threatened to withdraw from the league this season.

In late September, Sümer mentioned withdrawal from the league after a game in Bursa where Diyarbakırspor players and fans were greeted with offensive chanting by Bursaspor fans. He later shook hands with Bursaspor Chairman İbrahim Yazıcı and held a joint press conference to reduce the tension.

“This is the second time we witnessed such strong offensive chants, following the game in Bursa,” Sümer told the NTV news channel Monday. “We reacted then, but the situation was pretty much the same in Antalya two weeks ago and today. This shows that no precautions have been taken. We were given promises when I made peace with the Bursaspor chairman despite fierce criticism in Diyarbakır, but none of those promises were kept.”

Many ultra-nationalists in Turkey consider Diyarbakırspor, which hails from the biggest city in southeastern Turkey, to represent the Kurds and, by extension, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The team and its supporters have on many occasions become targets of anti-Kurdish banners and chants.

After days of debate on the club’s future in top-flight football, Sümer announced on Thursday that the club would be playing the Galatasaray game.

“We feel that the Football Federation did not punish the sides in a just way after the Bursa game. We thought that we were being victimized through events on and off the pitch in the last two games because of our reaction,” said Sümer on Thursday. “That was why we announced we would not play the game against Galatasaray in the first place. Many people feel that our reaction was just, but withdrawing from matches would be useless.

“Ministers, our governor, the mayor and heads of NGOs all think that the team should play its games and continue to challenge others. What we have to do is respect that belief.”

This will be the second time that a title contender visits Diyarbakır this season. Fenerbahçe played at Diyarbakırspor on Aug. 24 and won 2-1 in a game that was marred by constant object-throwing to the pitch by home-team fans. The crowd trouble cost Diyarbakırspor a suspension of one game on neutral ground and one game behind closed doors.

Sümer said: “Everybody should be assured that we will welcome our guests in the best possible way, as we have always done.”

Galatasaray is heading to Diyarbakırspor after three consecutive victories. Most recently, the Lions crushed Dinamo Bucharest to secure a place in the next round of the Europa League.

A victory is crucial for Galatasaray during a week when Fenerbahçe will take three points without stepping on the football pitch. Fenerbahçe will be awarded three points as it is scheduled to play Ankaraspor, which was demoted to the second division after the Football Federation decided that the team’s relations with Ankaragücü were damaging the competitive nature of the league.

Another important game this weekend will be the Trabzonspor-Beşiktaş clash on Saturday.

Defending champion Beşiktaş has won four games in a row in the league, but a heavy 3-0 home loss to Wolfsburg in the Champions League disrupted fans’ belief in the team. Beşiktaş supporters were loudly critical of Chairman Yıldırım Demirören during the match, and things will only get worse should the Black Eagles fail to win on Saturday.

Trabzonspor, likewise, will see the game as a final chance to revive its title hopes. Hoping to win the league for the first time in 26 years, the Black Sea Storm is 10 points behind league-leader Fenerbahçe and needs a dramatic turnaround to remain in contention.