A Turkish court has sentenced several defendants in connection with alleged betting fraud to more than 1,000 years in prison each. Among other things, a former police chief and an ex-head of a media group were found guilty of conspiracy against the former president of Istanbul’s football club Fenerbahçe on Friday.
The head of the club, Aziz Yildirim, was sentenced ten years ago to six years in prison for allegedly involved in match-fixing and thus betting fraud. He had denied the allegations and suspected that it was a conspiracy against his club, the serial champions in the Turkish league.
In 2016, the prosecution reopened the case and supported the presumption. She suspected that the preacher Fetullah Gülen was behind the conspiracy, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also blamed him for the attempted coup in 2016. Gülen denies this. Erdoğan has tens of thousands of suspected Gülen supporters arrested as alleged terrorists.
Former police chief Nazmi Ardic was sentenced to 2,170 years in prison for conspiracy and forgery of documents. Hidayet Karaca – ex-head of the Samanyolu media group – received 1406 years. The media group has already been closed by the government. The prosecutors and judges who opened and directed the trial of the club president left Turkey after the attempted coup.
Fenerbahçe chairman Ali Koc told reporters that the court ruling proved the club was the innocent victim of a conspiracy by the Gülen network. The club has been in a serious crisis for several years due to high debts.
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