The Turkish Super Lig finds itself in more controversy after claims of racial abuse against former Tottenham defender Didier Zokora emerged recently. The incident between Fenerbahces’ Emre and Trabzonspor’s Didier Zokora that occurred more than a week ago could not have happened at a worse time for Fenerbahce.
The Istanbul based club find themselves dealing with a number of issues including the multi-million dollar trial of their Chairman who was involved in the match-fixing scandal that rocked Turkish football last year and the club’s denial by the TFF to participate in this season’s Champions League. The match resulted in a Fenebahce victory.
“Emre and I had an argument during the game. I beg your pardon for saying this, but he insulted me by saying nigger. What upsets me more is how disgraceful it is for a player who has African team mates like Sow and Yobo to insult an African from another team,” Zokora said.
Without wanting to go into detail of what was said, Emre on his part though not denying having uttered racial slurs towards Zokora said:
“If I have even a little bit of racism, may God take my heart away from this body,”
Ironically, this is not the first time Emre is being accused of racism. In his time in the North East of England with Newcastle United, Emre was accused of racist slurs three times most against African players.
It’s funny that in these three charges, Emre was not charged by the FA in one incident, while in teh El-Hdji Diouf incident, the Senegalese player refused to complain and as such no action was taken.
it is not quite clear what action the TFF and FIFA will take, however, the damage has already been done to Fenerbahce. It will take major action for the club’s reputation to be restored especially on the international front.
