Turkey shaken by violence the night GS became champ

After the final whistle, hundreds of Fenerbahçe fans occupied the pitch at their Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in İstanbul.

In response, police used pepper spray to disperse angry Fenerbahçe fans and evacuated the stadium as the players escaped to changing rooms along with police.

In related violence elsewhere in the country, a 40-year-old man was killed by celebratory gunfire in the northern Turkish province of Giresun in the first reported death directly linked to Saturday’s derby match.

Fenerbahçe said in a statement on Monday that it does not condone the incidents that followed its final match with arch rival Galatasaray, claiming that the club administration worked tooth and nail in the past week to invite fans to play fair.

Fenerbahçe blamed security forces and police for failing to properly respond to the incidents and said police used teargas and disproportionate force against Fenerbahçe fans waiting outside of the stadium “for reasons we still don’t know.”

Meanwhile on Tuesday, commenting on Saturday’s football match between the two top Turkish teams, which saw Galatasaray win the league title, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said responsibility for the recent violence and clashes following football games does not rest solely with the fans.

A group of football hooligans were referred to the Kadıköy Courthouse on Tuesday after they were detained due to their involvement in violent incidents that broke out before and after last Saturday’s title decider between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray in Kadıköy, İstanbul.