16,000-seat stadium in Istanbul remains largely idle

ISTANBUL

The 16,000-seat Zeytinburnu Stadium, which hosted Zeytinburnuspor for years, has become idle while the lawsuit filed by Zeytinburnu Municipality has been going on for nine years, it has become the abode of drug addicts.

Zeytinburnu Stadium in Istanbul was home to Zeytinburnuspor from 1984 to 2014. In 2014, the 42,000-square-meters of land on which the stadium is located was given to the Yedikule Surp Pırgiç Armenian Hospital Foundation through a decision of the General Directorate of Foundations. After the land was given to the foundation, Zeytinburnu Municipality applied to the court to have the land returned to them.

“Zeytinburnuspor is a club with a historical background. It took part in the Super Lig for three periods. Since 2010, it has been in the amateur groups. Zeytinburnu Stadium was transformed from a dirt field to a grass field in 1994, the team was then in the professional league. Then the tribune part of the stadium was built. With its construction, the stadium became one of the best stadiums in Istanbul. A stadium with a capacity of 16,000 is an ideal place for Istanbul's stadium problem,” said Cahit Kesler, who played football for 16 years at the Zeytinburnuspor Club.

“The stadium suffered a blow in 2010, and with the blow it became unusable. In 2008 they abandoned the stadium by putting the fire brigade inside. The federation did not organize matches after 2010 and the stadium became idle. For five to six years they have been painting and whitewashing around it, it looks beautiful from the outside, but the inside has turned into ruins,” he added.

Pointing out that Zeytinburnuspor is one of the biggest communities in Istanbul, Yılmaz Çam, one of the Zeytinburnuspor executives, said “Zeytinburnuspor is a very big community, a team with the most supporters after Beşiktaş, Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe. Before the Armenian Foundation, this place belonged to a lady and after that, the stadium was transferred to the Armenian foundation. The foundation had given permission to build a stadium and a sports facility here.”

“After the 1999 municipal elections, the fall of this club and this stadium began. Football was played there until 2012. We asked to at least give it to amateur clubs as a grass field, it was first accepted and then rejected because it was said to not be earthquake resistant. If the problem is earthquake, this can be solved by rebuilding the stadium," Çam added.