President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made important statements at the Necip Fazıl Awards program held at Atatürk Cultural Center.
Speaking about the canceled Super Cup final, President Erdoğan said:
I would like to underline here the sadness we feel about the events that took place last night. We want Turkish sports, especially football, to come to the fore with achievements, not debates.
“IT IS WRONG TO TURN SPORTS INTO AN APPETIZER OF POLITICAL COMPETITION”
Whatever the reason, turning sports into an appetizer of daily political competition is wrong, erroneous, and has no benefit for our sports. We see the statements made by opposition parties since last night as new examples of exploitative politics. The Republic is the common value of 85 million. Gazi Mustafa Kemal is the founder of this country.
“WE CANNOT ALLOW THE PRODUCTION OF SHOW AND PROVOCATION MATERIAL”
We cannot allow yesterday’s incident to be taken out of context and used as show and provocation material. We cannot in any way excuse the immoral criticism of the nation’s faith and sacred values, especially over a tragic event. We have not hesitated to do whatever needs to be done, whatever step needs to be taken in this regard, and we will not hesitate.
Due to yesterday’s incident, I would like to thank football fans: I have spent 20 years with football, I have never watched from the stands like these. I convey my best wishes to the sports community.
I expect all our clubs to sincerely embrace the spirit of fair play, which represents peace, solidarity and cooperation in sports.