Galatasaray becomes first team to remove word ‘Arena’ from its stadium name after Erdoğan’s instruction

Ali Naci Küçük - ISTANBUL

Galatasaray has become the first team to remove the word “arena” from the name of its stadium after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s latest instruction to the sports minister to order the removal of the word from the names of all stadiums across the country.

The decision to rename Türk Telekom Arena was taken at the club’s board meeting on May 27.

Alper Narman, a board member responsible for the stadium, told daily Hürriyet that the stadium will be renamed Ali Sami Yen Sports Complex Türk Telekom Stadium as of May 29.

Erdoğan said on May 26 that he had instructed the sports minister to order the removal of the word “arena” from the names of all sports stadiums across Turkey.

“I am against ‘arenas.’ You know what they do in arenas, don’t you? People were dismembered there (by animals) I have given the instruction to the minister and we will remove the name ‘arena’ from stadiums. There is no such thing in our language. Look at the definition, there cannot be such a thing,” he said.

The president had previously signaled his unhappiness with the term “arena,” heralding the latest order.

Meanwhile, Türk Telekom CEO Paul Doany stated that the company supported the president's call and reached consensus with Galatasaray to rename the stadium.