What on earth has stung
Turkey into action? For more than a month now a new broom has been sweeping
clean not just the streets of Istanbul but also the country's football and
armed forces. But who’s wielding the broom? And what "rubbish" are
they trying to get rid of? Worthwhile questions to ask because it’s clear the
idea did not come from "Mr Clean".
On July 3
the Turkish judicial authorities disclosed that they are investigating a series
of rigged matches involving Turkey's most prestigious football clubs. Official
phone tapping has led to search warrants being issued and a succession of
highly publicised arrests, police interrogations and detentions. The tally to
date, based on 19 matches that have allegedly been rigged, stands at almost 80
arrests with 31 people held in custody.
With football being a veritable
religion for Turks, it is not hard to imagine the shock waves that the
announcement has set off. There are even rumours that the government stalled
before deciding to reveal the details of a scandal that could have had an
influence on June's general election. Although the league winners Fenerbahçe -
whose chairman, Aziz Yıldırım, was arrested on the very day that the
investigation officially opened - seem to be at the heart of the storm, the
zealous authorities have not spared other big clubs, including Beşiktaş, fifth
in the league and winners of the national cup competition, and Trabzonspor.
Fenerbahçe have not been slow in seeing the hand of the "police
state" behind the highly unusual investigations – an overtly political
accusation levelled by the club's chairman that has generated contradictory and
often far-fetched rumours amongst supporters: it is a campaign to replace the
chairman with an ally of the government or the real target of the affair is
prime minister Erdoğan, a well-known supporter of the Canaries and a member of
the club's governing body. It is worth remarking, though, that Erdoğan has
welcomed the current "purification process".
So, is it political
manoeuvring or a genuine attempt to clean up a sport that only last year was
shaken by a murky illegal betting affair? The baffling wait-and-see approach
adopted by the Turkish Football Association does not bode well. Apart from
deciding to postpone the start of the league season by a month, the association
has not taken any action against any of the individuals who have been charged
or any of the clubs cited in the dossier. Indeed, several websites specialising
in sports news are suggesting that, if it ends up being proven that the
association has deliberately dragged its feet, the national team could be
excluded from Euro 2012.
In a communiqué released on July 12, UEFA did not rule
out the possibility of excluding Turkish clubs from European competition if the
Turkish authorities end up by confirming the facts. There was a new twist on
August 24 when, to everyone's surprise, the Turkish Football Association
announced that it was excluding Fenerbahçe from the Champions League. This
decision, which amounted to a tacit acknowledgement of the club's guilt, left
many observers feeling sceptical: how could the association, which up till then
had used the alleged lack of evidence as an excuse to justify their inaction,
suddenly take such a radical measure?
Everything points to the hand of UEFA.
After the chief legal counsel for integrity and regulatory affairs made a
surprise visit to Istanbul, UEFA laid down a clear ultimatum: if Fenerbahçe did
not withdraw from the European competition or if the Turkish Football
Association failed to exclude them, then UEFA would mount a disciplinary
investigation and sanction the association.
The question to be asked now is:
will the other clubs that have been tainted by the scandal also pay the price
for UEFA's zero tolerance policy regarding match rigging? Given the scale of
the investigations, which are based on a recent law that targets organised
crime, supporters are in no doubt that convictions will follow. It remains to
be seen whether legal sanctions will only be taken against the individuals
charged or whether they will include the clubs as well. If it is only the
former, as many football lovers fear, then the show of force will miss its
stated object: to wipe out the corruption that is endemic in Turkish football.
There again, sweeping things under the carpet always has been an art.
