7 people, including MHK President Ferhat Gündoğdu, were referred to the courthouse in the "Referees File" investigation launched by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office Illegal Betting and Sports Crimes Bureau against some suspects for the crimes of "torture", "forgery of official documents", "abuse of trust" and "illegal seizure of personal data".
Super League referee Yasin Kol and Super League assistant referee Göktuğ Hazar Erel were detained in Trabzon yesterday evening on charges of 'violation of Law No. 7258', 'participation in the crime of forgery of documents' and 'abuse of office'.
Sports Lawyer Lawyer Anıl Dinçer answered the questions of Hürriyet Sports Arena reporter Selen Cansu Aksoy about the current and future processes in the investigation.
What do you think will be the impact of this investigation on the Super League? Will a postponement decision be made for the Super League?
I do not foresee a postponement decision at the moment. I don't think it will be very useful. Because here we need to look at the postponement decision from a beneficial perspective. What will the football players receive when these leagues are postponed? What will be the sponsorships of these clubs? Football players will not be able to play in the competitions. Imagine, an environment where the leagues stopped for a month or two. That's why we need to look at the consequences of this. This should be avoided if it makes the results worse.
But in what sense can postponement make sense? If, for example, 50, 60, 70% of the referees are involved in this kind of work, if it turns out that they cannot continue to referee, if there is a serious decrease in the number of referees to compete in the competitions, or even if there are almost no referees available, then this may come to the agenda. Perhaps an interim arbitration committee will be appointed. Foreign spoken.
Maybe temporary referees will be brought from abroad. Just to solve this case. At that stage, temporarily postponing the leagues for perhaps two or three weeks may come to the fore. Because right now, there is no point in postponing the leagues for two or three weeks or for a certain period of time. Because, as we mentioned here, the investigation has been going on for almost one and a half or two years. Maybe it will continue for another year or two, we don't know. New evidence and new witnesses emerge.
Now, while these are emerging and the investigation continues for a long time, there will be no logic in postponing the leagues here. If the investigation could be concluded after a week, two weeks, three weeks or a month, of course we would say, "Let's postpone these leagues. Until the investigation is over. We will continue the leagues after it is over." However, we do not see this as possible as the investigation continues to expand and make more serious allegations.
Therefore, there must be a logic and benefit behind the decision to postpone the leagues. Otherwise, it may cause more harm than good and TFF may be responsible for this decision. And a decision such as postponing the leagues should be taken not by TFF alone, but on the contrary, under a joint decision with Spor Toto, the Ministry of Sports, clubs and players.
It is not among the accusations, but can an accusation of match-fixing or affecting the outcome of a match arise based on the WhatsApp conversations between MHK President Ferhat Gündoğdu and Yasin Kol, which revealed that the referees of the matches were changed irregularly?
Frankly, within the scope of the current investigation, there are especially Ferhat Gündoğdu, some board members and club presidents and managers, who have already been referred due to betting. There is also an allegation that he placed an illegal bet on a referee. There are accusations of mobbing and forgery of documents against Ferhat Gündoğdu. There is such a claim. None of these are within the scope of match-fixing or incentives. If it is not within the scope of match-fixing and incentive, it cannot be evaluated within this scope.
One of the thinnest lines here and the strictest situations in football is the scope of match-fixing and incentives. Could this investigation evolve towards that point in the future? Of course, there may be a possibility of evolution, but it would not be right for us to evaluate it legally in that context right now.
If such an investigation involving the referees and MHK evolves into match-fixing, then we can talk about different situations. As a result of betting match-fixing, were elements such as competition results, match results, tournament results, championship race, relegation race affected or not? If these are affected, of course, a retrospective review can be made and some decisions can be made about the leagues.
Is it a difficult process for the Turkish Football Federation? Do what happened legally require TFF to call early elections?
Frankly, the Turkish Football Federation needs to temporarily dismiss all those involved in this investigation without any delay, without any buts, buts, or buts, and urgently. Some of these people, who will be acquitted and cleared and perhaps nothing will be found against them, should return to duty or should not return to duty. Therefore, it is urgent that people, especially those in key positions, be removed from their respective positions, replaced by other people temporarily and the outcome of the investigation awaited.
Now, while the leagues are continuing, a situation where people with such serious allegations and accusations remain in the same positions will damage the sense of justice in the leagues and further increase the question mark among us. That's why TFF needs to do this first. After that, there are resignations in TFF. Approximately four members resigned. There are 30 full reserve members in total that I know of, four of them are gone.
Their number must also decrease below eight. As far as we know, approximately 23 people need to resign in order for an extraordinary election to be held. Therefore, since an extraordinary election is not possible, what the President of the Turkish Football Federation must do is naturally lead to an election as soon as possible. But before removing them, the people in these boards who make serious accusations must be dismissed, new ones must be appointed, and this system must be managed more accurately.
Would FIFA or UEFA be involved in this process or have any sanctions?
FIFA and UEFA have no sanctions at this stage. However, if this investigation goes on for too long, if it becomes too complicated... When I say it becomes complicated, what I mean is if the sense of justice in the hearts, hearts and minds is further damaged, if doubts about Turkish football increase, then FIFA and UEFA will step in somewhere and ask, "What is going on here?" can say. Why can he say? Because our Turkish clubs participate in these tournaments at the national team and club level.
FIFA's tournaments at national team level, UEFA's tournaments at club level. That's why they want clubs from clean and fair football to come to the tournament organized by them. In a clean order. If there are doubts about this -- and we are talking about some doubts right now -- if these continue to increase and are not resolved... These may happen, but they need to be resolved as soon as possible.
Is it legally possible for the MHK to continue appointing arbitrators while there is a judicial investigation against the MHK President?
Currently, rather than appointing referees, TFF needs to intervene and remove those who have allegations against key positions in the MHK, and then continue to appoint referees with a new board or new members, the new MHK president and these temporarily appointed people. In fact, if necessary, an advisory committee is established from abroad. A new MHK president is appointed temporarily. This interim committee and interim president make appointments.
If necessary, if the referees in our country are not sufficient, referees can be brought from abroad temporarily. Leagues continue in some way. But these need to be done as soon as possible.
What is the detail that the public does not pay enough attention to, but which could be very critical in this case, legally?
The detail that is not discussed here but may be the most critical in the file is something that does not technically exist at the moment. The file currently containing the referees and the MHK president is not related to match-fixing and incentives. If this work is connected there, then there may be a serious risk. It may emerge as a result of retrospective examination of leagues and competitions in some years. This would be the most critical detail in the file, but there is no such detail at the moment.
We will see whether it will evolve there in the coming period or not.
