A Turkish media mogul and former police chief have been sentenced to 1,406 and 2,170 years in prison respectively for conspiring against the Fenerbahce football club. The club was accused of match-fixing ten years ago and its former president was sentenced to six years in prison. In 2016, the Turkish public prosecutor said the allegations were a conspiracy.
It is said that the supporters of the cleric Fethullah Gülen had infiltrated the Public Prosecution Office, so they plotted against Fenerbahce. The exact motives for this were not disclosed.
The club’s president at the time, Aziz Yildirim, said during his trial 10 years ago that the allegations were untrue. He went to prison for six years anyway. Ali Koç, the current president of Fenerbahce, says the club wants financial compensation. The club was banned from European football for two years due to a match-fixing scandal.
Gulen has lived in the United States for a long time and is considered an enemy by the Turkish government. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Gulen attempted a coup in 2016. Erdogan’s favorite football club is not Fenerbahce, but the government-linked Istanbul club Basaksehir.
