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We say, enough is enough!
The Diyarbakırspor-Bursaspor week 24 encounter was suspended after only 17 minutes, and Sunday’s İstanbul Büyükşehir-Diyarbakırspor encounter was suspended three minutes before fulltime after former Sivasspor forward Herve Tum scored in the 87th to break the deadlock.
Images of these horrendous acts of violence were beamed into millions of homes across Turkey and the world at large. Soccer-loving Turks -- the couch potatoes in particular -- and the international community saw with their naked eyes the pathetic state Turkish soccer has disintegrated into.
Turkey is bidding to host the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, and so these images of violence every blessed weekend cannot be tolerated.
The Turkish Soccer Federation (TFF) on Saturday ordered Diyarbakırspor to play three matches on neutral ground and behind closed doors. And as the TFF was still deliberating on when to declare Bursaspor a 3-0 winner by default and Diyarbakırspor a 3-0 loser the İstanbul incidents erupted.
To be frank and candid, these disgraceful actions have even made the notorious English soccer hooligans look good. And for sometime now, there have been no reports of crowd rowdiness in English stadiums.
The TFF and law enforcement officials must act immediately, without fear or favor, and punish the perpetrators of these so severely that it will deter future troublemakers who are trying to bring Turkish soccer into disrepute.
İstanbul Governor Muammer Güler said on Sunday that referee Hüseyin Göçek “acted in haste” to call off Sunday’s game. “In terms of security, there was nothing that prevented play from continuing,” Güler stated. “And despite the fact that we made this known to the referee, he still decided to suspend the game.”
What’s done is done. The big issue facing Turkey now is how to prevent these unruly acts from happening again and preserving the image of the beautiful game in this country.
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