Turkey hands Kurdish footballer life-ban for Afrin-related social media post

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) on Tuesday said it had banned Kurdish footballer Deniz Naki for life after he encouraged people to participate in protests against Ankara’s military operation in Afrin.

The 28-year-old has been banned from all competitive matches in Turkey for three years and six months and received a fine of 273,000 liras ($72,000) for “separatist and ideological propaganda,” the TFF said in a statement.

Any suspension longer than three years in Turkey constitutes a life ban, which means the Kurdish footballer will no longer be able to play football in the country again, Reuters reported.

Naki had shared a video on social media over the weekend calling on Kurds and non-Kurds in Germany to participate in a rally in the city of Cologne against Ankara’s ongoing military operation in the Syrian Kurdistan (Rojava) city of Afrin.

Authorities in Turkey have already arrested over 300 people for social media posts criticizing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s campaign as a crackdown on public expressions of dissent continues.

Naki, who is currently under contract with Turkish second-tier side Amedspor, on Saturday said he wanted to terminate his contract and stay in Germany as his lawyer underlined “massive security concerns” for the decision.

Earlier this month, the 28-year-old footballer said he was lucky to be alive after his car was shot at while he was driving on a highway in Germany.

Naki, a well-known critic of Erdogan and his government’s anti-Kurdish policies, said he believed the attack was politically motivated and involved Turkish security agents “or somebody who doesn’t like my politics.”

The Kurdish footballer has not been a stranger to controversy in the past.

Last April, a Turkish judge gave Naki a suspended jail sentence of 18 months, accusing him of “spreading terrorist propaganda” for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).