Club chairmen meet Turkish president

ISTANBUL

DHA photo

The chairmen and board members of the Spor Toto Super League clubs met President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan late March 21 to deliver a joint message against terrorism.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting in Istanbul, Göksel Gümüşdağ, the chair of the Clubs Union Foundation that brings together 18 top league clubs, said the main message of the clubs at the meeting was unity against terrorism.

“During the meeting, all club chairmen spoke and condemned terrorism,” said Gümüşdağ. “We are united against terror, and we wanted to show this to our president.”

Gümüşdağ said the clubs will stand together against terrorism.

“We support the security forces and the military against terrorism,” he said. “To use the unifying power of football, we will walk on the pitch in our next games carrying ‘no to terror’ banners.”

Another item on the agenda at the meeting with President Erdoğan was the foundation’s effort to establish a joint company to market the broadcast and merchandising rights of the top league, which now belong to the Turkish Football Federation (TFF).

“We presented the memorandum of understanding we signed with TFF President Yıldırım Demirören to our president,” Gümüşdağ said. “He said he will discuss the issue with the sports minister and the prime minister.”

Fifteen club chairmen and board members of Fenerbahçe, Gençlerbirliği and Torku Konyaspor attended the meeting. Also in attendance was Hidayet Türkoğlu, former NBA star and Turkish Basketball Federation CEO, who was appointed as an advisor to President Erdoğan last week.