Has Yıldırım declared war on Gülen?

Cüneyt Özdemir

The above headline belonged to the article most read on Thursday. However, there was no such question within the news report [covering statements by Fenerbahçe Chairman Aziz Yıldırım in which he reportedly said he will fight against Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen] to which that headline belonged.

It was not even clear what part of the report was uttered by Yıldırım himself and what parts were reporter Ertuğrul Özkök’s own opinions. For instance, following Yıldırım’s reported statement that “I am quite determined to fight,” is the sentence “These [match-rigging] trials are Turkey’s problem,” which seems to be completely separate and unrelated. That same day, Yıldırım refuted the news report. Before Yıldırım made this announcement, I thought Özkök’s report could be explained by either Özkök’s own paranoia that the “Hizmet [Gülen] movement is behind every single incident” or -- if the statements did indeed belong to Yıldırım -- this was the first time a football club had declared a stance against a movement. And, in a country like ours, where football is loved almost like a religion, such opposition would lead to severe conflicts.

Published on Today's Zaman, 06 July 2012, Friday
Original article [in Turkish] published on Radikal Daily, 06 July 2012, Friday

Related Article:
Yıldırım denies being outraged at Gülen, refutes recent article