Fenerbahçe General Secretary Burak Kızılhan Responds to Galatasaray’s Statement and Speaks on Göztepe Incident
Fenerbahçe General Secretary Burak Kızılhan spoke on the club’s television channel about the incidents that occurred during the Göztepe match. Here are Burak Kızılhan’s statements:
“IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL AWAY MATCH THAT TURNED INTO A NIGHTMARE”
“Everything started off very well. It was a great away trip. We traveled to Izmir fully prepared. Unfortunately, what happened on match day is beyond belief. The images we saw shocked us. Where have you ever seen a team’s jersey being burned? Who are these people? It’s a shame! Isn’t there anyone around to stop this?”
“THE BIGGEST PROVOCATION”
“I’m very curious. What will they do to those who burned that jersey and to those who brought it out? If they’ve taken action, I apologize. This is the biggest provocation! All our fans go through identity checks, Passolig checks, and security screenings. These are our supporters. You’ve already searched them once; why search them again in front of the stadium? When we entered the stadium, unfortunately, our fans were still outside. The treatment our fans received shocked us. The images are unbelievable. Tear gas was used on our fans with excessive force.”
“I DIDN’T SEE ANY GÖZTEPE OFFICIALS”
“Before the match, during the first half, and after the match, I personally didn’t see any Göztepe officials. There were TFF officials, thankfully they were with us the whole time. A person claiming to be an official from Göztepe committed the biggest provocation while our president was on the field. After we finished our discussion there, he confronted us. Besides that, I didn’t see any other Göztepe officials.”
“WHY WOULD WE PROVOKE?”
“There are serious accusations being made. When we heard that 200-250 of our fans still hadn’t entered the stadium, we left the protocol area to go to the away fans’ section. We were leading 2-0! Why would we provoke anyone? What were we supposed to do, fly there? We could only reach the area in that way. If we had another intention, we would have gone with 10 people.
After a cowardly attack from behind, we went back to the protocol area with our president and watched the remainder of the match. What happened next is truly incomprehensible. Normally, immediate action should be taken against this person. Because this is how it’s done in our stadium! The sports police would immediately take him to the station. But this person continued to watch the match for another 50 minutes as if he were being rewarded.”
“RESPONSE TO GALATASARAY’S STATEMENT”
“I also read the statement made by a certain club. I can’t even comment on it. They took the opportunity to come back into the spotlight. Entering our stadium as if staging a raid… I saw this statement from Galatasaray President Dursun Özbek. Was he in the stadium when this incident happened? If he was there, why didn’t he come to us when it happened? I think they should focus on their own issues.
A Fenerbahçe jersey will be burned in public, but Fenerbahçe is blamed for the provocation. Our fans’ jerseys will be seized, but Fenerbahçe is blamed for the provocation. An accredited president and an official will go to our fans, but we are blamed for the provocation. The PFDK will assess this. We will also respond accordingly. What does this have to do with Göztepe’s reference to Article 622? I tell our fans not to fall for these narratives.”
“WHY WOULD WE PROVOKE?”
Really asking this?
BEN OLSAYDIM SEN KONUŞAMAZDIN