The referee attacked at the end of the Ankaragücü and Rizespor match breaks the silence. Hospitalized after being hit in the face by the president of the Ankara club, Faruk Koca, then beaten on the ground, Halil Umut Meler recounts the scene of surreal violence of which he was a victim on Sunday evening. He claims to have filed a complaint.
“Faruk Koca punched me under the left eye and I fell. While I was on the ground, all the people kicked me in the face and other parts of the body… Faruk Koca shouted (…) ”I will kill you!”, a- he describes in comments reported by the official Anadolu agency, which seem to match the images broadcast on television.
“My brain has gone crazy”
Koca, who has since resigned, apologized to the referee, “to his family, to the Turkish refereeing community, to sports fans and to our nation”. The attacker also says he has completely lost control.
“My brain has gone crazy (…), I no longer remember what I did,” the manager of the Ankaragücü club initially told a private television channel.
Fifa President Gianni Infantino, for his part, described the incident as “totally unacceptable” while Turkish Sports Minister Osman Askin Bak, at Halil Umut Meler’s bedside, said he was “determined” to “fight against violence” in Turkish sport.