Dursun Özbek's election proposal to the TFF

Galatasaray Sports Club President Dursun Özbek stated that the date for the elective general assembly, which the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) announced would be held on July 18, should be moved forward.

Speaking to members of the press before the meeting to be held at the headquarters of the Union of Clubs Foundation in Maslak, Özbek expressed that the common view of the Süper Lig clubs is that the TFF has not demonstrated a successful administration.

Emphasizing that he has stated many times that the TFF management should be renewed through an early election, Özbek underlined that a certain number of delegate signatures are needed to call for an early election.

"THERE IS NO LONGER A NEED FOR A SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN"

Reminding that they had announced as Galatasaray that they would support the signature campaign being organized, but that Mehmet Büyükekşi announced a decision for an elective general assembly following this statement, Özbek spoke as follows:

"Upon this, we thought that there was no longer a need for a signature campaign in our view. They announced the early election date as July 18. Whether the date is appropriate or not is a separate matter. We believe it is essential for the election to be held at an earlier date, but we think this should be resolved through dialogue. The issue I care about here is preventing division within the Union of Clubs. There will be those who sign and those who do not, and this will damage unity.

Since Mehmet Büyükekşi has already said 'yes' to an early election, I think the door is open for the election to be moved to an earlier date. I have spoken with him many times on this subject. The interest of Turkish football lies in holding this election earlier. The way to do this is to keep the door of dialogue open and continue this dialogue. Rather than pursuing this by collecting signatures, our thought is to hold the early election by talking and reaching a consensus. The most important issue here is to prevent division between those who sign and those who do not."

Adding that he got the impression from his meetings with TFF President Mehmet Büyükekşi that a compromise would yield results, Dursun Özbek said, "It is necessary to try the result of a compromise. The question of what will be done if no results are obtained from this depends on waiting for the outcome of the compromise. We are talking with Mr. Mehmet Büyükekşi due to the importance of the matter. I think it is very important for this election to be held in June. I am trying to persuade Mehmet Büyükekşi by talking. We should think about what to do after trying these things," he stated.

Stating that it would not be right to share the content of his meeting with Mehmet Büyükekşi, Dursun Özbek said the following:

"The most important point of Galatasaray's view is not to disrupt the unity in the Union of Clubs. There will be those who sign and those who do not. We need to prevent this division. I think there is benefit in trying to persuade each other and attempting this."