Sports in Turkey, whether at the professional or youth level, are in mourning in the country devastated by the earthquakes last Monday, leaving dozens of players and athletes buried under rubble.
“Now is not the time for football,” Yeni Malatyaspor football team president Ahmet Yaman said last night, emphasizing that they are thinking of withdrawing from the second division of the Turkish league.
Yeni Malatyaspor goalkeeper Ahmet Eyup Turkarslan is just one of many athletes confirmed to have died under collapsed buildings in earthquake-hit Turkish provinces.
According to Yaman, football cannot be played after the earthquake disaster, when “thousands of our people are in ruins, their families are in mourning, waiting for news and burying their bodies”.
All competitions and sporting events in Turkey are suspended until further notice.
Athletes Ahmet Tas, Mehmet Eskisarili, Ali Gursoy and Aslan Ekiz have died in Kahramanmaraş, the epicenter of the earthquakes, according to the Turkish Wrestling Federation.
Ghanaian Hatayspor footballer Christian Atsu is still missing under a collapsed building in Hatay and has yet to be located.
The second division teams Marasspor and Iskenderunspor also reported several players under the collapsed buildings.
Thirty-eight Turkish Cypriot schoolchildren, volleyball players and their teachers have been found under the rubble of a collapsed hotel in Adiyaman (south of Malatya), where they had come to participate in sports competitions.
Also, players of the Malatya men’s volleyball team of the second volleyball league are said to lie under a collapsed hotel in Malatya.
Meanwhile, 14 players of the Hatay women’s volleyball team lie under the ruins of a collapsed building.
Turkey international Cemal Kutahya and Hatayspor coach Savas Yuksel are under a collapsed building in that city, one of the hardest hit by the earthquake, according to the Turkish Handball Federation.
Meanwhile, Istanbul’s Fenerbahce Stadium, one of Turkey’s major clubs, has become a collection center for relief materials to be sent to the earthquake-devastated areas.
Former Galatasaray international Kerem Akturkoglu, who was trapped under a collapsed building during the major 1999 Istanbul earthquake, was seen distributing aid in Hatay province.
Source: El heraldo
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
