Hakan Sukur in the photo Ansa
ROME – Flag of the Turkish national football team, where it still holds the record of goals scored, a past also in Italy with Turin, Inter and Parma, with which it won the Italian Cup, Hakan Sukur now lives "in exile" in the United States where he is forced to be a Uber driver. The same former football glory denounces it in an interview with the German Welt am Sonntag, attributing his own ruin to his opposition to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which would have also cost him the freezing of all his assets in his country of origin.
After finishing his career as a professional footballer at 37, Hakan Sukur entered politics and in 2011 he was elected to parliament in Erdogan's party. Things changed when Erdogan decided to end relations with the Fetullah Gulen movement. Sukur was one of the members of this movement. Since the break, an arrest warrant hangs over Sukur, as well as others belonging to the movement.
The declarations of Hakan Sukur are reported by the Gazzetta dello Sport in an article by Michela Cuppini: "I have nothing left – he explained to the" Welt am Sonntag "-. Erdogan took everything that was mine: my right to freedom, to express myself and to work. The party invited me to benefit from my popularity. Then hostilities began – he reveals -. They threw stones in my wife's boutique, my children were harassed on the street, I received threats after my every statement.
When I left, they locked up my father and everything I had was confiscated. It was a very difficult time for my family. Everyone who had to deal with me had financial difficulties. When I joined the AKP, Turkey was a country compliant with European Union standards, but Erdogan's policy led to rigidity and a completely different direction was taken: an orientation towards the Middle East rather than Europe.
Sukur was accused of taking part in the 2016 coup (failed): "2016 coup? What would my role have been? To date, no one has been able to explain it. I have only done legal things in my country. Can they indicate what crime I would have committed? No, they can only say "traitor" and "terrorist". I am an enemy of the government, not the Turkish state or nation. I love my flag and our country. "
Sukur ended his interview with an invitation to Erdogan: “Return to democracy, justice and human rights. Interested in people's problems. Become the president that Turkey needs "(sources Ansa and La Gazzetta dello Sport).
Source: Blitz Quotidiano