a team of Turkish volleyball players violently attacked by opposing supporters

By Le Figaro with AFP

Published 3 minutes ago, Updated now

Volleyball players were attacked in the Turkish championship. IMAGO/Andreas Gora / Imago / Panoramic

A team of Turkish volleyball players who were playing a Women’s Volleyball League (KFC) match in the city of Adana were violently attacked by the public

A team of Turkish volleyball players playing a match in the Women’s Volleyball League (KFC) in the southern city of Adana was violently attacked by the public, and one of the players was injured in the knee, denounced the head of their club on Wednesday.

Mesut Karabulut, president of the club in Malataya (central-south), a town seriously damaged by the earthquake of February 6, announced that he had filed a complaint against the Imamoglu Belediye club in Adana and its public.

In a statement addressed to the media and titled “Dark night for volleyball», Mr. Karabulut says that the insults began to fly even before the start of the match on Sunday evening. “They uttered unspeakable words against our players and coaches» he writes, referring to “an abnormal crowd, mainly men”, who threw “glass and plastic bottles» about girls.

One of them had to have five stitches in her knee: “At the end of the match, the stands were not evacuated and our athletes were not allowed to go to the locker rooms. Glass cups and bottles were thrown onto the field and some tried to invade the field to beat our athletes», he reports again. “We filed a criminal complaint» he added, specifying that this complaint aims “the club and the public» from Adana, an ultra-conservative city.

“Difficult conditions”

Mr. Karabulut recalls that the Malatya players are preparing for the championship in “Difficult conditions» after the earthquake which devastated the region and caused a total of more than 50,000 deaths in the south and south-east of Turkey. In photos posted by players on the X network (formerly Twitter) and relayed by the media, several young women show off their bruises on their legs or arms.

Nicknamed the “Sultanes du filet», Turkish volleyball players won the European Championship in September, their first major international title, which led to them being regularly targeted by religious and ultra-conservative extremist groups. Sunday’s serious incidents come as the Turkish football championship was suspended due to the attack on Monday evening on a referee by several men, including the president of a first division club in Ankara. The victim, who was able to leave the hospital on Wednesday, suffered from head trauma.

The championship will resume on December 19 but the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) must announce sanctions on Thursday against the Ankaragücü club, whose president Faruk Koca, an active member of the ruling AKP party, has resigned.

”
data-script=”
>