Dear Sir or Madam;


UEFA launched new disciplinary proceedings on 30.05.2014 regarding Fenerbahce SK, following Trabzonspor’s complaint, but latest news regarding Platini's involvement in 2020 Qatar corrupted World Cup bid raised a big question mark on Fenerbahce SK investigation too.As known Mr. Michel Platini was very strict on Turkish match fixing scandal at start and made declaration several times that all teams involved in match fixing must be punished, but the progress of this case slowed down after Platini's meeting with Turkish Prime Minister in Ankara.

Although all regulations and disciplinary procedures, which are listed below, order to relegate Fenerbahce SK and all other teams involved in match fixing neither Turkish FF nor UEFA applied these sanctions yet. The verdict will be announced on 17.07.2014 by UEFA and it is Platini's and UEFA's big test whether they were bribed in this case or not !!!


1) Introduction to Turkish Match Fixing Case:

At the end of the 2010-2011 Turkish football season, Fenerbahçe were crowned champions after finishing with the same number of points (82) as title rivals Trabzonspor, but with a better head-to-head record. But Turkish football was soon rocked as it emerged Fenerbahçe’s success was a result of one of the most devastating match-fixing scandals the game has seen. A long police investigation uncovered a sophisticated crime syndicate that had been involved in fixing games, with dozens of high-profile officials and players implicated. Yet despite legal rulings and sporting rulings that should have seen Fenerbahçe relegated and multiple offenders jailed or otherwise punished, many of those involved remain active across Turkish football, on and off the pitch.


2) What are the verdicts given so far by authorities in Turkey and across Europe?

• On 02.07.2012 Turkish Court found Fenerbahçe SK and Beşiktaş JK guilty of match fixing.
• On 10.06.2013 UEFA found Fenerbahçe SK and Beşiktaş JK guilty of match fixing.
• On 22.06.2013 UEFA Disciplinary Committee found Fenerbahçe SK and Beşiktaş JK guilty of match fixing.
• On 15.07.2013 UEFA Appeals Body found Fenerbahçe SK and Beşiktaş JK guilty of match fixing.
• On 28.08 2013 CAS found Fenerbahçe SK and Beşiktaş JK guilty of match fixing.
• On 17.01.2014 Turkish Supreme Court found Fenerbahçe SK and Beşiktaş JK guilty of match fixing.
• On 06.06.2014 UEFA Appeals Body found Eskişehirspor and Sivasspor guilty of match fixing and banned from European competitions for 1 year.


3) Which sanctions were applied by Turkish Federation to teams involved in match fixing?
Although disciplinary regulations of Turkish Football Federation (TFF) is clear that all temas involved in match fixing must be relegated, TFF chose to protect these teams and individuals rather than punishing them and has not relegated any team up to this point and all individuals who were found guilty by court are still active in Turkish football…

i) According to the Turkish Football Federation Disciplinary Code 55/1(b) ;

Teams, whose board members are involved in match fixing or bribery, must be relegated to a lower division

ii) According to the Turkish Football Federation Status Article 2/f ;

Turkish Football Federation has to obey the verdicts of UEFA and FIFA and make sure all parties, such as; clubs, players, managers, etc., obey these verdicts too.


TFF failing to apply the necessary sanctions to teams and individuals involved in match fixing was no surprise to those who follows Turkish football closely as Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, himself stated several times that he wouldn’t let his team (Fenerbahce) to be punished and TFF obeyed his order and made sure no sanction was applied…


4) What sort of political interventions occurred during the process?

i) 24.11.2011-First Political Intervention: Turkish Parliament changed Sports Law no 6222 “The Prevention of Violent Acts and Disorder in Sports” (referred to herein after as 6222) that came into effect on 14.04.2011 and reduced all sentences that penalizes crimes in sport.

ii) 29.03.2012 – The Prime Minister Erdoğan: “Not attending European Tournaments for 5 years would not change anything, if UEFA punishes Turkey for not relegating Fenerbahçe SK ”.


This was not the only times Turkish PM got involved in protection of match fixers. After Turkish Higher Supreme court approved 16th High Court’s decision on 17th of January 2014 regarding the individuals involved in match fixing crime, Fenerbahce SK’s spokesperson Mahmut told press that Turkish PM promised them for the retrial of Aziz Yıldırım…


Over 5 months after this incident, the PM kept his promise and made sure the 13. Higher court ruled in favor of Mr. Aziz Yıldırım allowing him for a retrial without any ground. At first this might look like a normal procedure, but people know the details also know how corrupted this verdict was…


First they kept Aziz Yıldırım free, where he should have been sent to prison straight after Turkish Higher court’s decision on 17.01.2014, then the case taken from 18th High court and given to 13th High court, which decided in favor of Aziz Yıldırım.


5) Why does not UEFA get involved and put an end to this corruption?

At first sight, UEFA seems genuine in fight against match fixing crime, but when you get into the details of this case UEFA is sure bending a lot of rules to protect match fixers. A recent award released by Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) clearly states that UEFA chose to penalize Fenerbahce SK with minimum penalty rather than a heavier sanction needed to be applied.


A clause from CAS’ arbitral award regarding Fenerbahce SK case;

Article - 577. However, as UEF A did not file an independent appeal against the Appealed Decision, the Panel finds that it is limited in its discretion to sanction Fenerbahce as it deems fit because it cannot go beyond the sanction imposed by the UEFA Appeals Body. This would constitute a ruling ultra petita. As such, the Panel cannot impose a higher sanction than a two-year period of ineligibility (in addition to the period of ineligibility already served through the equivalent of the "administrative measure") in the present appeals arbitration proceedings.


Another interesting evidence which put UEFA under spotlights is a wiretap of Turkish PM released, which indicated that Senes Erzik, vice-president of UEFA, was the bridge between him and the UEFA to save Fenerbace SK from relegation…


In past Olympique de Marseille, Juventus FC, Pobeda FC and O. Valou were relegated to lower divisions for the same offence, but 3rd year running since 03.07.011 Fenerbahçe SK is still competing in a league where they are not supposed to be, despite all declarations made by Gianni Infantino and Michel Platini during the progress of the case.


This raises the question whether UEFA has been bending the rules as TFF did to prevent Fenerbahçe SK from relegation too.


If so; should we relate this with UniCredit’s sudden (!) sponsorhip UEFA on May 2012 which was worth tens of millions of dollars… More important than that, it is not hard to discover links between UniCredit and Yapı Kredi Bankası which is collectively owned by UniCredit and Turkish oligarch Koç family. A member of Koç family, namely Ali Koç, used to be the member of Fenerbahçe board of directors at the 2010-2011 (the season which was corrupted with match-fixing) and 2011-2012 seasons. Ali Koç had been one of the most powerful supports of Aziz Yıldırım (President of Fenerbahçe ) even after Aziz Yıldırım was sentenced to imprisonment by the Court.


6) What must UEFA decide on 17th of July 2014?

Before answering this question let’s have a look at some clauses of the Resolution signed between UEFA and the National Federations in Astana in 27.03.2014.

Article - 5. Pursuant to their own Regulations and practice and subject to the application of national law, to:

f) Ensure that, in addition to individuals, clubs are also held responsible and sanctioned in circumstances where those with authority to act on behalf of the club are involved in match-fixing, attempted match-fixing, or any other form of corruption linked to match-fixing;

g) Exclude match-fixing, attempted match-fixing, and any other form of corruption linked to match-fixing from any kind of statute of limitations.

Article - 10. All member associations of UEFA re-affirm that match-fixing, attempted match-fixing or other forms of corruption linked to match-fixing must be met with strong and sporting sanctions, such as the possibility of lifetime bans for officials, players, coaches or referees, and measures such as the deduction of points and/or relegation and/or exclusion from competition for clubs.



Therefore; it is fair to say that all teams involved in match fixing must be relegated and all individuals involved in match fixing must be banned from football up to life time in order to maintain the integrity of the game and make sure fair play is obtained.