Striking remarks from Erdal Beşikçioğlu about Mansur Yavaş: 'Whatever the older brother says, the younger brother does'

The crisis between Etimesgut Mayor Erdal Beşikçioğlu and Etimesgut Belediyespor, a team in the 3rd League, has resulted in the municipality sending a formal notice to the club demanding the removal of its name and logo.

Speaking to Sibel Yükler from T24, Beşikçioğlu made striking statements.

According to the allegations, at the end of August, Etimesgut Mayor Erdal Beşikçioğlu and the Municipal Council requested that Etimesgut Belediyespor—whose new management includes a former advisor to Ankara Metropolitan Municipality (ABB) Mayor Mansur Yavaş—be transferred to the municipality. When the management demanded payment of 75 million lira, which they claimed to have spent in the one month since taking office, in exchange for transferring the club, all support provided by the municipality to the club was withdrawn.

Etimesgut Municipality sent a formal notice to the club dated October 10, requesting the removal of the municipality's name and logo. The club management subsequently decided to change its name to "Etimesgutspor".

REMARKS ON MANSUR YAVAŞ

Etimesgut Mayor Erdal Beşikçioğlu answered T24's questions regarding the crisis and the formal notice. Responding to allegations that there has been tension between him and ABB Mayor Mansur Yavaş since he was nominated in the March 31 elections, Beşikçioğlu said, "There has never been such tension, nor will there ever be. Mansur Yavaş is the older brother of Ankara, he is our older brother; whatever the older brother says, the younger brother does."

'THEY WILL STAND ON THEIR OWN TWO FEET'

Beşikçioğlu also spoke about the club management's decision to change its name to "Etimesgutspor" following the formal notice sent by the Municipal Council. Reminding that the club plays in the 3rd League, Beşikçioğlu stated that according to Municipal Law, professional teams cannot be supported. Recalling that they withdrew the personnel serving in the club's training programs in August, Beşikçioğlu said:

"Belediyespor is now in a professional league, and according to Municipal Law, municipalities cannot support professional teams; they support amateur clubs. In this context, we said, 'Our support for you has ended. We have raised you up to this point, brought you this far; from now on, you will stand on your own two feet.' And that is why we withdrew our name and our personnel from there. We have to withdraw because it is a professional team. But this was portrayed in a very different way. However, since we knew the correctness of what we were doing, we didn't even listen to them."

'THE MUNICIPALITY WILL ESTABLISH AN AMATEUR CLUB'

There are two structures we support: Women's Volleyball and basketball. We continue our path with these teams and our youth. Of course, we support Etimesgut Belediyespor morally, whether we want to or not. The municipality will establish its own amateur club related to football anyway. There is no harm in this."

'DOES THE MUNICIPALITY SUPPORT FENERBAHÇE?'

Regarding the club's sports training programs becoming fee-based and the money spent, Beşikçioğlu said, "The club has grown and has reached a state where it can stand on its own two feet; from this moment on, it does not need the guardianship of the municipality. This is very clear. Does the Kadıköy Municipality support Fenerbahçe? Does the Beşiktaş Municipality support Beşiktaş? People inevitably make some complaints when they get used to comfort and that comfort is disrupted; it is normal."