Turkish commentator at the World Cup: Hakan Sukur – Don’t mention sport

A Turkish commentator is replaced during a World Cup match as he mentions the name of the country’s top scorer. Whoever does this will have to face the consequences in Turkey.

Day three of the World Cup group match between Morocco and Canada began with an opening goal by Hakim Ziyech in the fourth minute of the game. It reminded Alper Bakircegil of one of the greatest moments in Turkish football. “The very first goal in the World Cup, it should be remembered, was scored once by Hakan Sukur,” he said on live commentary on Turkish broadcaster TRT. Completely generic statement from a commentator who wants to make a reference to his country, which is known for not taking part in the tournament. However, in social media, they provoked outrage, at least that’s how the people responsible for the television station saw it.

Bakircegil no longer commented on the second half, with his colleague Cunet Kiran stepping in for him. Because whoever mentions Hakan Sukur faces the consequences in Turkey.

Kraal – King – Sukur was called up once as he became the top scorer of the Superliga and the Turkish national team during his career. At the 2002 World Cup, the striker was a key part of the successful Turks, who surprisingly only failed in the semi-finals against Brazil. In the game for third place against South Korea, Sukur finally scored after eleven seconds to make it 1–0 – a record to this day.

Bakırkıgil “only” received a warning from his employer

In the meantime, however, no one can now mention his name on Turkish television with impunity. Sukur moved into politics after his career as a representative of the presidential party AKP. However, she dumped him in late 2013 and distanced herself from him. The reason for this was Fethullah Gülen’s radical crackdown on the opposition movement. Finally, in 2016, she was accused of insulting the president due to statements she allegedly made on Twitter against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his son Bilal; There is no real proof of this. At this time – a year after the failed coup attempt, with which Erdogan also linked him – Sukur lived in exile in the United States for a long time, where he last worked as an Uber driver, as he did in 2020. did. WorldReported interview. Sukur had said at the time that his assets were frozen in Turkey.

The same applies to his name as well. According to media reports, commentator Bakırkıgil “only” received a warning from his employer and was not immediately dismissed, as meanwhile reported by a fake account on Twitter under the name Bakırkıgil. An unnamed TRT employee told broadcaster Tele1 that the broadcast decided the commentator’s statements were inappropriate and the social media outcry was justified. Bakircegil, hence the term after the warning, just don’t make such a mistake again.