「殺してやると言われた」　トルコサッカーの暴行事件で被害の主審

【イスタンブールＡＦＰ＝時事】サッカートルコ１部リーグの試合で、主審がクラブチームの会長に殴打された事件をめぐって１２日、被害を受けた主審や暴行に及んだ会長、レジェプ・タイップ・エルドアン大統領がコメントを発表した。（写真は、サッカートルコ１部リーグのアンカラグジュ対チャイクル・リゼスポル戦後、アンカラグジュのファルク・コカ会長〈左〉に暴行を加えられ、ピッチに倒れるハリル・ウムト・メレル主審）
　事件が起こったのはアンカラグジュ対チャイクル・リゼスポルの試合終了直後。アンカラグジュのファルク・コカ会長ら数人がピッチへ入り、ハリル・ウムト・メレル主審の顔を殴打した。コカ会長は、自チームの選手が退場処分を受け、そこから同点ゴールを許して引き分けに持ち込まれたことに怒っていたとみられる。
　コカ会長ら３人は勾留された。リーグは無期限中断となり、トルコサッカー界は深刻な危機に陥っている。
　主審は倒れ込んだ後に蹴りを入れられ、立ち上がったときには目の周りにあざができ、顔の左側が腫れ上がっていた。病院へ運び込まれたメレル主審はその後、「ファルク・コカは私と他の審判に対して、『お前らは終わりだ』と言い、特に私は『殺してやる』と言われた」と明かした。
　この件では、エルドアン大統領が病床の主審に電話をかけている動画を内務省が公開した。深い遺憾の意を表し、一刻も早い回復を願った大統領は「友人と内相、法相、その他すべての関係する友人に、必要な措置を取るよう伝えた」と話している。
　コカ会長は１２日遅くに辞任し、審判やスポーツ関係者に謝罪したが、「（判定が）ひどく不当で間違っていようと、私の犯した暴力行為を正当化、あるいは説明することはできない」と述べ、チームが主審に不当に扱われたとする主張は変えなかった。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/12/13-15:56）

Turkey's football plunged into all-out crisis Tuesday following an on the pitch attack on a referee by a club president who was mentioned as a possible candidate for mayor of Ankara.
The top-flight Super Lig indefinitely suspended matches and a court placed MKA Ankaragucu club president Faruk Koca and two others in pre-trial detention for injuring and threatening a public official.
Images of Monday night's incident showed Koca rushing onto the pitch with a group of men and throwing a punch at referee Halil Umut Meler after he had blown the final whistle.
Koca appeared to be incensed at Meler for sending off one of his players and then awarding a stoppage-time goal that allowed visiting Caykur Rizespor to leave the capital with a 1-1 draw.
Meler fell to the ground and was kicked several times in the ensuing melee.
The 37-year-old match official was shown standing minutes later with a black eye that had swelled up the left part of his face.
He released a statement after being rushed to hospital saying Koca had threatened his life.
Faruk Koca punched me under my left eye and I fell to the ground. While I was on the ground, they kicked my face and other parts of my body many times, Meler said in a statement.
Faruk Koca told me and my fellow referees: 'I will finish you'. Addressing me in particular, he said: 'I will kill you'.
- 'Great injustice' -
Koca resigned as club president late on Tuesday but insisted that his team was cheated by the referee.
No matter how great an injustice or how wrong (the officiating) was, nothing can legitimise or explain the violence that I perpetrated, Koca said in a club statement.
I apologise to the Turkish refereeing community, the sports public and our nation, Koca added.
The incident pushed all other events off the front pages of the main newspapers in a nation where football passions run deep -- and are often politically linked.
The Turkish Football Federation condemned this vile attack and suspended all matches until further notice.
It also prompted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- a one-time football player whose love for the game has helped improve the fortunes of top Turkish clubs -- to issue a late-night appeal Monday for calm.
Sports means peace and brotherhood. Sport is incompatible with violence, he said in a social media statement.
The Turkish interior ministry later released a video showing Erdogan placing a call to Meler in his hospital bed.
We are so deeply sorry and we wish you a speedy recovery, Erdogan told the injured referee in the clip.
I told all our friends, my interior minister, my justice minister and all the other relevant friends to do what is necessary, Erdogan said.
- Political ambitions -
Turkish football is known for its passion and occasional bursts of violence.
A Turkish court briefly arrested 19 people involved in a brawl that broke out during a second-division match in November of last year.
Second-division Bursaspor played seven matches earlier this year in an empty stadium following another incident during which fans chanted anti-Kurdish slogans.
Turkish clubs are followed by legions of fans who often align themselves with various social causes and become a part of the country's political life.
Football supporters played an integral part in 2013 youth-driven protests that formed the first serious challenge to Erdogan's socially conservative government.
The Ankara club leadership and its president are linked closely to Erdogan's ruling AKP party.
Koca told one reporter this year that he could consider running for mayor as the AKP candidate in a closely-watched municipal election scheduled for March 31.
If I am entrusted with the task of being the metropolitan municipality mayor, I will do what is necessary, Koca said.
Both Ankara and Istanbul are headed by popular opposition politicians who came to power in 2019.
Ankaragucu are in 11th place in the Super Lig after Monday's draw.
Rizespor are four points above them in eighth place.