The Amedspor issue...

Amedspor has been promoted to the Süper Lig. May it be auspicious and beneficial for us all!!!

Let us begin this piece with the cliché that football is not just football. You can include politics, sociology, social psychology, economics, and even diplomacy in it, but in the context of Turkey's mind-boggling agenda, this sentence carries a much deeper meaning.

In our country, football is also a functional tool for propaganda!

That is why all governments, one way or another, inevitably get their hands on football. Since approaching the issue romantically would sever our connection with rationality, let us reinforce our reading glasses with the lens of reality.

In the modern world, propaganda is no longer conducted solely through the media. Its most powerful foundation is built upon areas that appear "innocent" and have gained universal acceptance.

Sports, art, literature, culture, and so on... You can add social media to that list as well.

These fields possess their own armor of immunity. You cannot just question or criticize them as you please... If you try to make a few critical remarks, the reflex of "do not mix politics with sports" is immediately triggered.

Precisely for this reason, it is extremely useful for some.

Let us look at the debates ignited by Amedspor's promotion to the Süper Lig with a cool head and without getting caught up in emotions. Because we are talking about the most visible example of the tension between sports and separatist politics in Turkey in recent years.

Let us state that the issue here is not just the sporting success of a football club.

There is no need to beat around the bush.

What we have here is another act of the 'opening' theater played to keep Tayyip Erdoğan in power until his final days. And Amedspor is one of the actors appearing on stage in this act...

Saying that human memory is prone to forgetfulness, let us turn the pages of recent history.

The club was first founded in 1990 as Diyarbakır Büyükşehir Belediyespor. It adopted the colors green and red, leaving out yellow.

Let us open a brief parenthesis here; we should say that Amedspor should not be confused with Diyarbakırspor, which was founded in 1968 and reached the 1st League—the equivalent of today's Süper Lig—in the 1977-78 season, and even managed to finish the league in 5th place the following year; let us close the parenthesis and continue.

The 'opening' process was a turning point. In 2014, it changed its name to 'Amed Sportif Faaliyetler Kulübü'. Of course, such a critically important decision was not up to the club's management. The instruction for its establishment and support was given directly by Cemil Bayık from the PKK's mountain cadre. In other words, they acted in accordance with the instructions of the PKK.

In short, Amedspor was openly a project affiliated with the PKK.

It had already taken the Kurdish name of Diyarbakır in a manner consistent with the spirit of that day.  This was, in fact, a political choice; that is, it positioned itself in an ethnicist, separatist political stance through "cultural visibility" and "expression of identity."

Naturally, with the knowledge and approval of the government.

It was no secret that it had been planned as a requirement of the initial reconciliation process. In parallel, the government would both benefit from the unifying effect of sports and, on the other hand, imprint the symbols of the Kurdish nationalists onto the minds of our people through football as if it were "normal."

But it didn't work out; their plans did not match the reality.

From that day to this, Amedspor fans have attended all their team's matches with PKK symbols, chanted slogans in favor of the terrorist organization during matches, and when they were the hosts, they resorted to stones, sticks, insults... whatever they could get their hands on!

Of course, when playing away, they never failed to quickly manufacture victimhood from the reactions they received. Let us not forget to mention that they had the endless support of soft-headed liberals, fake leftists, ethnicists, sectarians, Second Republicans, Kurdish nationalists, and the Islamist crowd. Thanks to the media power of this group, which labels everyone it encounters as "fascist" and thus thinks it carefully hides the actual racism they commit, the team was pushed onto our people as an acceptable, reputable, but often victimized team and an oppressed community.

Let us write it clearly.

The vast majority of Amedspor fans, unlike many other clubs in Turkey, are not just a crowd providing sporting support to their team; they are also a community that carries a sense of belonging based on ethnic identity and are PKK sympathizers.

In other words, slogans at matches, banners written in PKK jargon, reactive rhetoric, and so on... They are openly engaging in terrorist organization propaganda on the football pitch.

If we return to the theory of the matter, is football a tool for political expression, or is it a field that should be completely purged of politics?

This is where the rubber meets the road...

The answer given to this question directly determines the perspective on Amedspor.

Let us come to the present day...

Just like the period when the club changed its name, the current political conjuncture—in which Tayyip Erdoğan strongly needs the support of pro-Kurdish factions for the continuation of his rule—has created a 'level-up' opportunity for the PKK that will not be squandered.

The organization knows that creating a psychological and sociological impact in Turkey, beyond mere politics, is of utmost importance. In other words, it seeks to establish legitimacy not only through arms, but by producing and managing perception.

Football is one of the most fertile grounds for this production and management of perception.

Why?

Because it is universal, reaches large masses, appears "harmless," but most importantly, it has a natural protective shield against criticism.

The impact of slogans in the stands is not the same as those at political rallies. These should not be viewed as simple "fan outbursts." Messages circulated under the invisibility advantage provided by football hit the bullseye.

The best kind of propaganda is the one that is not done directly, my late professor, Professor Metin İnceoğlu, used to say while teaching the "Motivation Methods" course at university.

Of course, one should not overlook the examples of Spain and the former Yugoslavia.

FC Barcelona is a symbol of Catalan identity, and Athletic Bilbao has strong ties to Basque nationalism. Here, football is not just a sporting activity, but a vehicle for expressing ethnic, cultural, and political identity. However, there is a difference; these clubs are not seen as extensions of an openly illegal structure, but rather as symbols of regional identity and demands for autonomy. While there are tensions with the Spanish state, this situation does not manifest as the sports clubs being directly identified with violent organizations.

In the former Yugoslavia, football caused a much sharper fracture. The 1990 Dinamo Zagreb vs. Red Star Belgrade match, in particular, went down in history. Fans of the two teams clashed, and riots broke out. In reality, the nationalist tension in the country had spilled onto the pitch. This match may not have been the cause of Yugoslavia's collapse, but it was a powerful signal showing how prepared the social ground was for the approaching war. In other words, rather than acting as a 'trigger,' football became the stage where the tension between Croats and Serbs became visible.

In many parts of the world, football has become a carrier of political messages. However, the difference in Turkey is the issue's direct link to a terrorist organization that has intended to dismantle the Republic of Turkey and has the blood of 50,000 people on its hands. Let's not look far; even the unfurling of PKK flags and the chanting of 'Biji Serok Apo' slogans right in the faces of our citizens during celebrations in Istanbul and Diyarbakır are enough to explain what is in the back of their minds.

Therefore, dismissing the debate with superficial slogans like 'sports is brotherhood' will not solve the underlying problem. On the contrary, we can say it will only deepen it, because we know well that these issues grow by hiding behind the rhetoric of brotherhood.

Amedspor's promotion to the Süper Lig gains greater significance in this context.

Because the Süper Lig is far more than just a sports organization; it is a showcase, a stage, and an arena for spectacle. Every image presented, every word spoken, and every symbol carried on this stage creates a wider impact.

In short, the issue is not just about a club moving up a league; the real issue is the direction in which the political meaning carried by that club will flow. If the agendas hiding behind the armor of innocence provided by sports are ignored, facing much heavier costs tomorrow will be inevitable, and with that, we conclude our article.