German-Turkish player Naki banned from football for life in Turkey over ‘ideological propaganda’
ANKARA
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) has banned German-Turkish player Deniz Naki from football for three years and six months on charges of “ideological propaganda” and “separatism.
In effect, Naki will not be able to play football since any suspension longer than three years means a life-time ban.
The TFF said on Jan. 30 that it also fined Naki 273,000 Turkish Liras.
The federation suspended and fined Naki because his comments had appeared on several internet outlets.
Naki was playing for Turkey’s third-tier Amedspor in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır.
In April last year, a court in Turkey handed Naki a suspended jail sentence for “making terror propaganda” for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
Earlier this January, Naki said shots were fired at his car while he was driving near the West German city of Aachen.
Stephan Kuhn, Naki’s lawyer, told German magazine Der Spiegel on Jan. 27 that the player would terminate his contract with Amedspor and had decided to remain in Germany.
Before playing for Amedspor, Naki had played for St. Pauli and SC Paderborn.
