The HSYK acted on recent news reports regarding recorded phone conversations that were included in the match-fixing indictment and contained insults against pop singer Demet Akalın and former footballer and current Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Hakan Şükür. The board’s inquiry will reportedly determine whether Prosecutor Mehmet Berk irrelevantly added recorded telephone conversations to the case file, although legally they should have been deleted.
Şükür recently filed a complaint against a senior Turkish Football Federation (TFF) official and two others for violating his personal rights by recording and saving his phone conversations.
Şükür, who played for Turkcell Super League team Galatasaray, said he and his family were deeply disturbed by the insulting remarks made about him that were included in the case file of a match-fixing investigation. Şükür filed a legal complaint against TFF Deputy Chairman Göksel Gümüşdağ as well as former TFF Chairman Mahmut Özgener and Alaattin Yıldırım, the brother of Fenerbahçe Chairman Aziz Yıldırım, who has been jailed pending trial as part of the investigation.
The three men’s phone conversations, along with dozens of others, have been recorded for months in preparation for the indictment and were presented to the court along with the indictment. Akalın also filed a criminal complaint against coach Bülent Uygun and Eskişehirspor Chairman Halil Ünal, who she said used insulting remarks to refer to her in phone conversations included in the indictment.
After an inspection by HSYK inspectors, the HSYK will decide on whether to launch an official investigation into Berk or not.
The match-fixing investigation concerns claims that some club officials and footballers were rigging games in the Spor Toto Super League, which ended in May with Fenerbahçe winning the trophy, as well as the Bank Asya League 1. Dozens of individuals, including agents, former football players and club managers, were arrested as part of the probe, with Fenerbahçe Chairman Yıldırım being the highest-profile figure taken into custody. The first hearing in the case is scheduled for Feb. 14.
