An investigation by the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office is ongoing into the assault on stadium manager Ali Celiklan following the match between Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe in week 37 of the Trendior Super League.
As part of the investigation, travel bans have been imposed on Fenerbahce club doctor Ertugrul Karanlik, former Fenerbahce coach Hulusi Berg and Emre Kartal, the son of coach Ismail Kartal.
Within the scope of the investigation carried out into the events following the Galatasaray-Fenerbahçe derby, the prosecutor’s statements were obtained from three individuals.
Emre Kartal said in a statement that he was Fenerbahce’s certified analysis coach for the match and normally serves as an assistant coach for Fenerbahce Football Club.
Kartal claimed that because of the events that had taken place before and during the match, they had to go to the dressing room as a team after the match had finished, and that Galatasaray players and technical staff made threats and insults in the corridors, and that the insults continued after the team had entered the dressing room.
“We were unfairly blocked.”
Kartal claimed that Galatasaray officials did not allow the team to leave the dressing room despite the permission of the sports department officials, and “we were held in the dressing room despite the permission of the sports department officials, even though there was no regulation. We were unjustly prevented by Galatasaray officials from playing in the match or entering the field,” he said.
Kartal said he was escorted by police onto the ground some time later to take photos with the team and coaches, but claimed he was blocked and insulted by the Galatasaray coach and officials.
Kartal continued:
“After we went onto the field, we were celebrating our victory and wanted to take a photo with our flag and all the footballers, coach and technical team. Meanwhile, Galatasaray officials continued to obstruct us physically and verbally. Afterwards, I saw our manager Ahmet Ketenci, doctor Ertugrul Karanlik, our goalkeeper İrfan Can Elibayat, Mert Hakan Yandaş, Oostervolde and a female manager whose name I can’t remember now taking a photo with the Fenerbahçe flag. Someone approached us very quickly, attacked our flag and tried to steal it. Ertugrul Karanlik then tried to distance himself from the flag.”
An obvious reference to the Trabzonspor match.
Kartal said that during that time, there was a fight with Galatasaray officials, and that a person who was trying to take the flag hit Ertugrul Karanlik on the lips, and that he saw Karanlik fall to the ground with blood on his face. He said that the person who came towards us and attacked us was not a football player, but was in civilian clothes, but “I heard later that it was Ali Çeliklan, the stadium manager. I thought so because I had experienced a similar incident at the end of the match against Trabzonspor. In my extreme fear and excitement, I acted entirely on the instinct of self-defense and tried to prevent and stop the attack by the officials.”
Kartal said that this would be noted in the medical report he submitted to the prosecutor’s office along with his statement after the Trabzonspor match, and that he had received threats on his social media accounts after both the Galatasaray and Trabzonspor matches and that he had been negatively affected mentally by this ongoing situation.
“I acted purely out of a reflex to protect my team and my flag both from these events and from an attempt to usurp the sacred flag that represents millions of fans. In my panic I only tried to stop and thwart the unfair attack,” Kartal said. “I do not accept the accusations against me. I have not insulted or insulted anyone. I have not made any threatening remarks, nor have I committed the crime of intentionally causing injury,” he said.
“I panicked when I saw blood coming out of the doctor’s mouth.”
In response to documents sent by the Sports Safety Authority and a complaint against Galatasaray Sports Club stating that he had punched the complainant, Ali Çelikran, Kartal said: “I am not seen in the camera footage at the start of the event. Later, Çelikran was contacted by our doctor, Ertugrul Karanlik. “I saw the fight with the doctor. I saw the doctor punch himself and knock him to the ground. I panicked when I saw it. Blood was flowing from the doctor’s mouth and I was also shocked and panicked at that moment and tried to tear off the Fenerbahçe flag,” he said.
Ertugrul Karanlik also acted as Fenerbahce’s club doctor during the match in question, but said he was unable to express his celebration on the field after the game and was escorted to the dressing room by police.
“We waited there for about an hour with the players and officials, and after learning that the Galatasaray fans had left the stadium, we told them we wanted to go onto the field and celebrate under police escort. “Darkness noted that the police told us that all the fans had left the stands and it was okay for us to go onto the field,” he said.
Dakhnes claimed that after being given permission to enter the field, he and other players, coaches, officials and police officers from the sports branch made their way to the field, only to be blocked by people they believed to be from Galatasaray and the TFF at the match venue, where there was an exit tunnel to the field.
Meanwhile, Darkness said that the most authoritative manager of the sports department told the people that there was no harm in it as the stadium was completely deserted and that they were just taking photos. “The whole team entered the field together with President Ali Koç. Fenerbahce club photographers started taking photos of us and the players on the field,” he said. “However, while we were taking photos, people who appeared to be the Galatasaray manager or officials continued to intervene and obstruct us,” he said.
Ertugrul Darkness continued his statement with the following words:
“While the jubilant demonstration was going on, we wanted to take photos with Fenerbahçe footballers Mert Hakan Yandas, Mert Mürdür, Jayden Oosterwolde, and managers Ahmet Ketensi, Simla Turker Beyazit and Bekir Yildem in a small group holding the Fenerbahçe flag. We asked for permission from a police officer from the sports branch, who had the authority to take photos with the flag, and he took photos of people holding the Fenerbahçe flag. As soon as he arrived, he physically intervened, pushed me aside and tried to take the flag away. At one point a fan came towards me with a knife and ran towards me with the corner flag. When I tried to stop him, he hit me in the mouth. Because events developed very quickly.”
Darkness said she tried to stop the person who hit her out of fear that he would do something bad because he didn’t know her, but she said she did not punch or kick him, nor did she utter any threatening or insulting words. The scene suddenly became chaotic.
After the fight was over, Darkness said she noticed her hands were scratched and blood was coming from her legs, and that she would submit the assault report she received to the investigation file.
Ertugrul Darkness said, “I was just trying to stop a person who was trying to steal the flag and I later found out his name was Ali Çeliklan. “The accusations against me are unacceptable. I am innocent,” he said.
Responding to documents sent by the Sports Safety Authority and a statement in a complaint against Galatasaray Sports Club stating that he had punched the complainant, Ali Çeliklan, Darkness said: “The incident unfolded very quickly. “I don’t remember punching Ali Çeliklan because the first blow had already been delivered,” he said.
“I saw that our president, Ali Kos, had an injury on his hand.”
In a statement, Hulusi Berg said he was a businessman active in the shopping mall and tourism sectors and was manager of Fenerbahce Sports Club from 1998 to 2000, but no longer holds any role at the club.
Berg said that the managers had gone onto the pitch to celebrate the victory and were taking a photo with the Fenerbahçe flag when he witnessed Ali Çeliklan, whose name he later learned, quickly approach them and attack the team’s flag, saying, “I was not among them.” People taking photos Ertugrul Karanlik then tried to push away the person who had tried to take the flag, but “there was a fight going on between the person I mentioned, the Galatasaray officials and our team. Meanwhile, I was watching our doctor. He fell to the ground with blood running down his face and our president Ali Koç was wounded in the hand,” he said.
Berg did not accept the allegations against her and maintained that she was acting out of self-preservation and tried to stop and thwart her attacker.
Documents sent by the Sports Safety Authority and an annex to the complaint of Galatasaray Sports Club state that Berg said he punched the accuser, Çeliklan, ran behind him and pulled his hair. “But Ali Çeliklan is a vigilante and I don’t want to say it now,” he swore. “I stepped in not to punch him but to push him away. And when this person came in, I said, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘He came from behind and reached out, I lost my balance a bit and because my hair was long the buckle and my hair got caught in my hand,” he said.
