Turkish federation orders five-game ban for violence against Amedspor

ANKARA

The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) has ordered Ankaragücü to play five games without spectators following an attack by the club’s managers and VIP guests on Amedspor officials last week as a legal investigation into the violence continues.

Third-tier Ankaragücü was fined 25,000 Turkish Liras, while the attackers were also barred from entering the stadium for 90 days.

Five Ankaragücü fans and officials were detained and released after the attack. 

Five Amedspor officials were hospitalized after being beaten by a crowded group in the VIP stands. One of them was thrown into a stairwell from a height of 2.5 meters after being subjected to blows to the kidneys.

The attack came after Amedspor scored its second goal in the 85th minute to put the visitors 2-1 ahead. 

Ankaragücü fans reportedly chanted slogans that linked Diyarbakır’s Amedspor to Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

On April 28, the TFF also registered the result of last week’s Trabzonspor-Fenerbahçe game as 4-0 for the Istanbul visitors after the match was called off in the last two minutes when a number of Trabzon supporters rushed onto the pitch, with one of them badly beating an assistant referee. 

“We are carrying out an investigation to see if there were any mistakes or faults in the planning and implementation of the security measures for the game, Trabzon Gov. Abdil Celil Öz told Anadolu Agency. 

“Anyone who has made a mistake will pay for it,” he said. 

The TFF decided to suspend all first-tier Spor Toto Super League games, along with Ziraat Turkey Cup matchups, for one week following a gun attack on Fenerbahçe’s team bus on April 4, 2015, that left the bus driver seriously wounded.