18.02.2025 14:01
The President of the Turkish Basketball Federation, Hidayet Türkoğlu, made a statement regarding Fenerbahçe not sending players to the National Team. Türkoğlu stated that they will closely monitor the situation until the summer and that they will not hesitate to impose necessary sanctions if the same attitude continues.
The President of the Turkish Basketball Federation, Hidayet Türkoğlu, made a statement regarding Fenerbahçe's decision not to send players to the National Team.
"IF THE SAME ATTITUDE CONTINUES..."
Türkoğlu, who stated that they will closely monitor the process, said, "We will closely follow the process until the summer months. If this attitude continues in the same way as we head to the European Championship, we would like to clearly state that we will not hesitate to implement the necessary sanctions as a management. This situation applies to everyone, including our athletes.
We have always been a management that believes communication and time can change certain things. However, as we enter the European Championship process from the perspective of the national team, if the same attitude continues, regardless of who it is, I would like to express in front of everyone that we will continue to maintain the determination we have previously shown." he stated.
Türkoğlu, who said they were surprised by the prolongation of the process, stated, "We have always been a management that closely follows the process, and our understanding has always been in this direction. We have never been a management that avoids dialogue. However, I think it would not be appropriate for us to delve into certain issues here, as it would be unfair to the players who are invited and come here. After all, they are here to wear the national team jersey.
We were surprised that this process has taken so long because we believe that when time is managed correctly, it yields positive results. The fact that the process has come to this point is certainly an undesirable situation for us. However, our current focus will be on ensuring that the players who will wear the national jersey perform at their best in the matches on Thursday and Sunday." he said.
"WE PRIORITIZED THE INTERESTS OF THE ATHLETE"
Speaking about the squad structure, Türkoğlu said, "In the decisions we make as a management, we have always prioritized the interests of the athlete. This is the most important point I want to emphasize here. We believed that it was not right for the athlete to be caught in a dilemma during this process.
As we head to the European Championship, we thought that the process needed to be managed more healthily because we are a team that has guaranteed the qualifying stage. We did not want our athlete to be drawn into such a polemic, as the repercussions can sometimes be very severe. In fact, they may need to receive a disciplinary penalty and could be away from the courts for months. For this reason, we thought that continuing with the current squad was the right decision." he stated.