Within the scope of the investigation initiated on charges such as 'forgery of documents' and 'mobbing', Turkish Football Federation (TFF) Central Referee Board (MHK) President Ferhat Gündoğdu, TFF Active Referees Association President Ferdi Karadoruk, TFF Central Referee Board Former Deputy Chairman Ahmet Şahin, TFF Central Referee Board Former Member Yunus Yıldırım, MHK Member and TFF Education and 4th Region Responsible Sebahattin Şahin, TFF Referees and Observers Association Istanbul Branch Organization Officer Alican Sağlar and TFF Referees and Observers Association Istanbul Provincial Referee Board President Emre Kosif were taken into custody.
Lawyer Halil, who acted as the lawyer of referees such as Cüneyt Çakır, Fırat Aydınus, Alper Ulusoy, Hüseyin Göcek, Tugay Kaan Numanoğlu, Bahattin Şimşek, Burak Şeker, Mert Güzenge, Murat Erdoğan, Kutluhan Bilgiç, Serkan Tokat, Süleyman Abay, Hakan Ceylan, who were dismissed by the decision of the MHK on March 8, 2022. İbrahim Atabay made a statement to the İhlas News Agency (İHA) reporter. Atabay, who submitted the first complaint against Ferhat Gündoğdu and other responsible persons to the Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in September 2025, said, "It turned out that those who cast a shadow on the football family were not the unfairly liquidated referees, but themselves."
"WE HAVE DELIVERED ALL THE INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTS WE HAVE TO THE ANTALYA REPUBLIC PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE PERSONALLY"
Stating that they made their complaints about the names in question exactly 1 year ago regarding the irregularity of referee appointments and classification promotions, the assignment of exam questions to certain candidates in advance, and irregular referee evaluations, Atabay said, "Irregularity of referee appointments, irregularity of classification and determination, giving exam questions in advance, irregular referee evaluations... These are all actions aimed at determining whose classification will be lowered and whose classification will be promoted when the referee classifications are made at the end of the season or during the season." "Ferhat Gündoğdu, Yunus Yıldırım, Ahmet Şahin (PMİK) and other MHK members determined this. The criminal complaint regarding the detection of irregularities was made in the ninth month of last year. PMİK members were especially responsible for this process. We personally submitted all the information and documents we had at that time to the Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor's Office." he said.
"WE MENTIONED THAT AHMET ŞAHİN IS THE INVISIBLE PRESIDENT"
Reminding that he was the lawyer of the arbitrators who were aggrieved on March 8 in the arbitration board at that time, Halil İbrahim Atabay said, "I won those arbitration cases. This time, the second March 8 case took place. In this decision, I went to the arbitration again. This time, we think that the arbitration was somehow interfered with, because, as mentioned in the justification of the previous won Arbitration Decision, there was no concrete and evaluable data and evidence. They again sent all the same arbitrators and the arbitrators and observers who opposed this wrong practice at that time. This MHK sent them. We We explained everything clearly, with the documents we had. We explained that some of these men were not invited to the seminar, and some were not even invited to the seminar. One of the complainants, named Eren Acar, who was working in the federation at that time, handed over the documents to the prosecutor's office. He helped in this matter. We have clearly concretized all such illegalities. "There were so many testimonies in the file. It took them a year to compile all of them. We talked about Ahmet Şahin's place within the Central Referee Board structure and how important he was, in fact." he said.
"YUNUS YILDIRIM ASKED ALI TUNA TO INVESTIGATE A RECORD IN A HOTEL"
Lawyer Atabay mentioned that Yunus Yıldırım, one of the detained names, asked for a hotel record to be investigated through Ali Tuna and said, "We explained all the processes until Yunus Yıldırım asked for a hotel record to be investigated through Ali Tuna and after receiving a rejection response, Ali Tuna was not given a match and in the end, he was demoted and his refereeship ended with the excuse that he could not get a passing grade in the referee's written exam. Thanks to Ali, he also filed a criminal complaint regarding all of these. And the exam. He laid the first stone, so to speak, by filing a criminal complaint regarding the crime of forgery of documents. The result was as we expected today. It is not possible to mention only Ahmet Şahin. As it can be seen, Ferdi Karadoruk was also actively involved in this matter. We read his correspondence on social media one by one. More than one person had made statements regarding this at that time to the referees who were close to him and wanted to raise his rank. "At that time, many unfounded allegations were made that all the referees who were victimized were dirty. In the reasoned decision of the arbitration board, it was mentioned that they cast a shadow on the football family. Today, we understand that it was not the referees who were unfairly and unlawfully liquidated, but themselves. I hope this process will result in detention, and from now on, the pressure on the referees will be relieved," he said.
"THEY THREATRED THE REFEREES, TELLING 'WE HAVE HTS RECORDS, BE CAREFUL WITH WHO YOU MEET'"
Arguing that many referees, including the current referees, were threatened by the MHK during private meetings with sentences such as 'Be careful who you meet with whom we have HTS records', Atabay continued as follows:
"The referees were going through an incredibly pressurized process. Many referees have statements about how they got the courage to say, 'Be careful who you talk to with HTS records,' and then they got courage to say 'Be careful who you talk to with your HTS records.' And somehow, they went to illegal ways and got their hands on the records, even who people were in contact with. I'm talking about the active referees. All of these will be revealed one by one during the trial. Many of the people could not speak out of fear. Because it is very difficult to speak against the person in charge of the system when they are in the system. When the trial process begins, it is active. "They will call many of the referees as witnesses in the file. Then Turkey will learn much bigger things. Whether there was an attempt to influence the results of the matches by the MHK president or the deputy president. All of these will be revealed one by one. Thus, many questions in people's minds will be clarified."
"MONEY TRAFFIC IN THE CASE OF AHMET ŞAHİN WILL BE INVESTIGATED BY MASAK"
Halil İbrahim Atabay also stated that he expects a second wave operation after the 7 people who were detained and said, "I think the investigation regarding that area continues. Because MASAK will investigate the financial traffic in Ahmet Şahin's case. When he speaks to the weakest people, all his systems will collapse."
"HANDWRITINGS OF FERHAT GÜNDOĞDU AND ALL MHK MEMBERS MUST BE OBTAINED"
Former referee and lawyer Halil İbrahim Atabay, when asked about his predictions regarding the course of the investigation, stated the following:
"There is a case of forgery in official documents. Ali Tuna has a forensic report, which is not hand-made and has been criminally reported. With that document, a crime has been committed here and concrete evidence has been obtained. Ferhat Gündoğdu's handwritings and, in fact, all other MHK members need to be taken. Signature samples need to be taken. Who wrote that article? He needs to be found. That's why I have absolute faith in the future of detention. Because if very serious evidence had not been detected and presented. "They wouldn't do this operation."
