Acun Ilıcalı on İbrahim Hatipoğlu Talks: “This Is About Fairness, Not Strategy”

Here are Acun Ilıcalı’s remarks from FB TV:

“Ibrahim Hatipoğlu, on live broadcast, suggested, ‘If you want, bring in foreign referees to review it.’ They made the proposal, and we accepted it. Later, Mr. Hatipoğlu called me, and we had a nice conversation.

During our polite and pleasant discussion, a post accusing us appeared after the Galatasaray–Beşiktaş match. I asked Mr. Hatipoğlu, ‘Why are you making statements targeting us?’ He said, ‘I’m not aware of it.’ A week or two passed, and they said they couldn’t find referees. I offered to find them. Then they said, ‘If you find them, it won’t work.’ We suggested Clattenburg, and they suggested Merg.

They then proposed to do it during the National Team break, and we agreed on a date. We settled on everything. To inform the public, I announced that we would conduct the review during the National Team break.

Meanwhile, our team told me they wouldn’t come. I said we had an agreement. Then a statement appeared, calling it a ‘cunning plan.’ Where’s the plan here? We can’t even get you to the table. An ex-Galatasaray official once said, ‘The one who avoids the scales is the thief.’ I never disparaged Galatasaray. We agreed on everything, and the message is still there. Everything is documented and concrete now. Later, they questioned why we made such an announcement without consulting them. Is there something secret?

Before Mr. İbrahim called me, I’d already read in the newspapers that they intended to reach an agreement with Fenerbahçe. I am once again inviting Galatasaray to join us. We will bring in foreign referees. We are inviting them again. If they don’t participate, they can send us the positions they want reviewed. We say, ‘Bring it on.’ Don’t smear us just because it didn’t go as you wanted. We want fairness for every team. If there’s an issue, we suggested showing it to foreign referees.”