Turkish footballer injured by gunshot at Istanbul night club

ISTANBUL

Beşiktaş footballer Gökhan Töre and five other people have been injured in an armed attack at a night club in Istanbul following the derby match with Fenerbahçe, the Turkish club announced on April 21.

Töre was reportedly shot in the back and was immediately taken to a nearby hospital. Beşiktaş released a statement, saying Töre had no relation with the assailant.

Injuries were not life-threatening, the club said.

Witnesses said the man began to fire his gun after his girlfriend said she was disturbed by how an unidentified man was looking at her.

Beşiktaş’s Communication Committee member Can İpekçi and Kayserispor footballer Taner Yalçın were among the injured, reports said.

The 22-year-old Cologne-born winger is contracted to Russia’s Rubin Kazan, and moved to Beşiktaş on a loan deal at the start of this season.

He started his professional career with Germany’s Hamburg, but played at Bayer Leverkusen and English giant Chelsea as a youth-level player.

Earlier this year, Töre’s Beşiktaş teammate, Sezer Öztürk, was stabbed during a fight in a Germany night club.

The 28-year-old suffered two stab wounds to his arm and leg in Velbert, Germany in January.

Öztürk was visiting Velbert, where he was born, to see his family. The club said the footballer was trying to separate two people having a fight, and sustained the wound from another Turkish man.