Turkish football’s top judicial body has approved a decision to demote Ankaraspor from the Turkcell Super League.
Following a meeting late on Tuesday, the arbitration board passed a majority vote in favor of relegating Ankaraspor.
The club was demoted on September 15 from the Turkcell Super League by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), after the man in charge of the team’s football operations was named the president of rival Ankaragucu.
“The federation’s regulations clearly state that no person or legal entity can control or manage more than one club in a way that might damage the integrity of the competition,” read a statement released by the Arbitration Board.
Ahmet Gokcek, son of Ankaraspor’s honorary chairman, Melih Gokcek, who is also the mayor of Ankara, was elected the honorary chairman of Ankaragucu in an emergency meeting on August 30. That was seen as a precursor to the two clubs’ projected merger.
which was then followed by two dubious transfers. Ediz Bahtiyar and Mehmet Cakir, two of Ankaraspor’s best players, were transferred to Ankaragucu on the last day of the transfer window for undisclosed fees.
The TFF said in a statement that they wanted to punish efforts to “drown out the competition and honesty of the championship in the eyes of the public.”
The federation added that there was no need to relegate Ankaragucu since the problem was “the harm to sporting competition that would be caused by the relationship between two clubs subject to the same case.”
Ankaraspor chairman Ruhi Kurnaz was furious with decision and has made it clear that he will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) with the case.
“Laugh or cry, or a combination of both, I don’t know. This is really sad indeed. I feel bad for the players. The harshest punishment on a football player is to stop him from playing football,” said Kurnaz.
“However, that’s the verdict we have here, and that makes me very sad. Think about the foreign players who aren’t allowed to play in the second division.
“We fought for our rights in Turkey, be we were denied our rights. Now we will be seeking our rights abroad,” he stated. “And the saddest thing is that we have been forced to take this course in seeking our rights.”
According to TFF decisions, previously played matches will be forfeited in favour of Ankaraspor’s opponents and the team will forfeit its remaining games.
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