National matches also rigged, says former chairman

Uyanık told Radikal in an interview that there were attempts to manipulate national team matches even under the most trusted federation chairmen.

The businessman headed Samsunspor for five years before he resigned in 2005. Uyanık has been among the few personalities to voice rigging allegations in Turkish football, as he also issued a statement asking that Turkish football be cleaned up during his term at the Samsun team.

Uyanık said he attended a meeting held by the Turkish Football Federation's (TFF) Ethics Committee in the 1990s, when the federation was headed by TFF President Haluk Ulusoy to discuss match-fixing.

Parliamentary deputies were also in attendance at the meeting. Uyanık told the participants that everyone was somehow involved in match-fixing, adding that even deputies call their acquaintances from the federation or the TFF's Central Refereeing Committee (MHK) to arrange their favorite referees for their cities' matches.

Noting that the mafia is also involved in football management in Turkey, Uyanık explained that his team was once pressured to lose against southeastern team Vanspor at a time when the state used to change policies in favor of the southeastern teams.

“It was a vital match for Vanspor. Their managers began to pressure us weeks before. The governor was also the chairman of the team at the time. … But I declined. We stayed in Van the night after the game. [Had we won] they were likely to burn us like in Madımak [a hotel in Sivas where a number of people were burned to death in the 1990s]. Fortunately, they defeated us 3-2, scoring in the 98th minute. I sat next to an observer from the federation. Because of the things they threw at us [from the spectators' stands], he left in the middle of the match.”

Uyanık said he once unsuccessfully attempted to rig a match in 1992 by threatening referee Ahmet Çakar. He added that even though Fenerbahçe is at the center of the ongoing investigation into match-fixing allegations, the İstanbul team is not the only one. However, the former chairman said Turkish football was not as corrupt when he headed Samsunspor as it is today. “In our time, unlicensed agents were not that common and footballers were not as corrupt because of betting,” he said.