Turkey urged to boost penalties for doping use

ANKARA - Doğan News Agency

Athlete Nevin Yanıt is among those who received penalty for doping use.

The Turkish National Olympic Committee (TMOK) is pushing for the doubling of the two-year ban penalty imposed on athletes found to have engaged in doping.

The committee filed an official plea on Sept. 13 to the Youth and Sports Ministry and the Sports General Directorate Arbitration Board, asking for an increase in the penalties on 44 athletes, including Nevin Yanıt, Eşref Apak, Kıvılcım Kaya, Fatih Eryıldırım and Elif Yıldırım, recently emerged documents have revealed.

The TMOK’s demand stemmed from a written statement sent by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), requesting that athletes found guilty of taking performance-enhancing drugs now be banned for four years.

The Turkish Athletics Federation’s (TAF) Disciplinary Board had banned the athletes following an article which says an athlete who has been found guilty of doping for the first time should be banned for two years.However, the TMOK and the IAAF requested the imposition of sanctions relating to another article that regulates the “doping trade” and “using doping collectively.”

Re-examination

Following the conveyance of the request to the ministry and the arbitration board on Sept. 13, the board asked the TAF to hand over the files for each athlete for re-examination. Moreover, all athletes impacted by the issue have received an official statement signed by Hasan Gerçeker, the head of the arbitration board, which calls on them to add anything they wanted to say regarding the TMOK’s complaint within 10 days. But Osman Buldan, a lawyer for many athletes, panned the committee’s complaint, dubbing the decision “unlawful.”

“It’s [better] to reach decisions on athletes with the regulations in effect. I don’t agree with the TMOK’s opposing opinion,” Buldan told Doğan news agency. The doping scandals that have cast a shadow over Turkish sports have prompted the government and related institutions to step up their fight against doping, but no concrete steps have been taken.