Trabzonspor fan Mehmet Ceylan, who lives in Gölbaşı district of Ankara, wrote a letter on September 17, 2002, within the scope of PTT’s ‘Letter to the 100th Anniversary of our Republic’ campaign. Ceylan’s letter, which included a newspaper clipping titled ‘The Worst Trabzon’, reached Trabzonspor Club. Ceylan included the following lines about Trabzonspor, which had 3 losses, 1 win and 1 draw in the first 5 weeks of the 2002-03 season:
“Dear Trabzonspor Club President, I hope you have made the club more successful economically and sportively. You have become champions, won the Turkish Cup and become successful in Europe. You have pleased the fans of the club. I hope you have restructured it. You have made the club a European team. Black Sea Tiger, Every “One day you defeated the Lion, You hunted the Black Eagle, You caged the Yellow Canary, You made Europe tremble. Thank you and success.”
In response to the surprise letter from the fans, Trabzonspor President Ertuğrul Doğan invited Mehmet Ceylan as a guest to a Super League match to be played in Trabzon.