Galatasaray reacts to Yunus Akgün decision

Hatipoğlu reacted to the referral of Yunus Akgün to the Professional Football Discipline Committee (PFDK) due to a post on his social media account.

Emphasizing that an expression that is not legally considered an insult in the stands cannot be subject to a penalty, İbrahim Hatipoğlu stated the following:

“For us, this is an absurd decision. No matter how you look at it, it is a referral full of inconsistencies that does not align with any past decisions. Once again, before a European cup match, we are facing another one of these referrals that are made before our big matches in a similar fashion. It is truly incomprehensible that such a referral is made for a chant from the stands that our player put over his own photo, which contains no swearing or insults.

“EVERYONE KNOWS YUNUS DOES NOT HAVE SUCH A STYLE”

I am also following the comments. In our opinion, there is absolutely no swearing or insult here. The requests for referral made by the rival team over the last two days have found a response from the TFF. Unfortunately, we were faced with such a referral this evening.

Yunus is a player everyone knows, extremely well-mannered, and a shining star of Turkish football. All the players who have played football with Yunus in Turkey know his character. Everyone knows very well that Yunus does not have such a style and that he does not get into such polemics with spectators or rival teams. I do not even think that Yunus is aware of the offensive word here.

“AN EXPRESSION THAT DOES NOT WARRANT A PENALTY WHEN SAID IN THE STANDS”

I want to underline this. There is a code 551 regarding spectator chants. This article requires obscene swearing for a referral. Let alone that, we are very seriously taken aback that an expression that would not even warrant a penalty if said in the stands—an expression that does not warrant a penalty unless it contains vulgar swearing—is being made a subject of punishment for a football player and referred to the Professional Football and Discipline Committee.

We do not find it well-intentioned. We do not see it as a good sign that the TFF applies criteria of its own making and tries to make the innocent guilty. We do not think Yunus has any fault. I hope the PFDK evaluates this unfair referral with common sense and does not leave our player facing any penalty.

“WE MUST EXPERIENCE THE COMPETITION ON THE FIELD”

We will play a derby on Monday. Before a match that should be played in a gentlemanly manner and decided on the field, the fact that a perception has been created for two days against our most in-form player with baseless accusations has found a response at the TFF. This is one of the things that saddens us the most. This is a referral made exactly on order.

“THE BEŞİKTAŞ EXECUTIVE SHOULD HAVE ALSO BEEN REFERRED”

That is even uglier. I saw it and I was saddened. It is sad that executives do these things. In the past, many videos of many players were published. Videos were published on social media where they accompanied chants with vulgar swearing during celebrations or at basketball games. None of these were referred. In that case, the Beşiktaş executive should have been referred as well. Yunus did not say anything. It must be underlined. These should not be subject to complaints. There are committees at the TFF that follow these. That is their job. We do not go around, follow what people say, and file complaints about them. That would be an extremely inappropriate behavior.

“OUR GOAL IS TO PLAY IN THE EUROPA LEAGUE FINAL”

We are a very different Galatasaray from the beginning of the season. We have been showing this since we started the league and in our recent matches. Our new transfers have started to contribute. There will be a very different Galatasaray against Elfsborg and Beşiktaş as well. We are taking it match by match. Our goal is to play in the Europa League final.

For this, our primary goal is to finish in the top 8 in the groups. Our primary goal is to leave tomorrow's match with a good performance and three points. After that match is over, we will start thinking about the Beşiktaş match the next day. Galatasaray is a club that has seen success in Europe as its primary goal. I believe that tomorrow, together with our spectators, we will make a mark on Turkish football with an important victory.”