Open letter from Beşiktaş to the MHK: Inconsistent decisions continue

Beşiktaş has published an open letter to the Turkish Football Federation's Central Referee Board (MHK). The letter, released on the black-and-white team's official website, included the following statements:

"We are still at the very beginning of the league. We see that the inconsistent decisions of your referees regarding foul, card, and penalty standards, which have been ongoing for years, are unfortunately continuing exactly the same this season.

We are stating our concerns now and issuing our warning!

Is it a coincidence that Beşiktaş is by far the team that receives the most yellow cards per foul?

While one yellow card is shown for every 4 fouls committed by our players, should we consider it normal that one yellow card is shown for every 8 fouls by one of our arch-rivals, and only one yellow card for every 53 fouls by the other? Where in the world can one yellow card be shown for 53 fouls; do you think you can explain this statistic at UEFA and FIFA seminars?

Your referees, who look at our players' fouls with sharp eyes, for some reason do not find the brutal fouls committed against us convincing?

It should be known that we have not forgotten anything that happened last season!

Beşiktaş - Antalyaspor match, 9th minute! Rafa Silva is on the ground following a hard intervention by an opponent! The referee brushes it off with a foul instead of showing a yellow card. Our same player is brought down again in the 58th minute with another hard foul, and again it is brushed off with a foul and no card...

Perhaps emboldened by the referee's ruthless attitude, in the 60th minute of the same match, Rafa Silva is hit with a very hard, intentional kick that could cause a very serious injury, and only a yellow card comes out of the referee's pocket!

Yes, only a yellow card comes out...

VAR intervenes exactly one minute later, it is watched for a long time, and it is only decided through VAR intervention that the brutally delivered kick should be a red card.

Trabzonspor - Beşiktaş match, 9th minute: Edin Vişça kicks Rafa Silva brutally from behind towards the Achilles tendon area, with malice and intent to injure, even though there is no position involving a challenge for the ball. While it is clearly seen on the broadcaster's feed that the match referee clearly saw the position, Ali Şansalan only gives Vişça a friendly warning.

Again, VAR intervenes, and only then is he forced to show the red card. This referee, who did not show the necessary red card despite clearly seeing such a hard action and only warned the opponent, deems it his right to shout at our players at the slightest warning from them! He very easily gives the card he could not give to the opponent to our team captain, who ran over to explain the situation once and did not even protest excessively.

In the same match, in the 45+2nd minute, Ciro Immobile being persistently pulled and brought down by Savic inside the penalty area is, for some reason, not seen or found convincing by the match referee, who was watching the position closely, or the VAR desk, which sees everything.

We do not take pleasure in our opponents being sent off with red cards. We have never needed the support of referees, and we never will.

We simply want justice!

Act fairly, make decisions without fear, and protect Turkish football!"

News Source: İHA