A top Turkish football player, of Kurdish descent, terminated his contract on Tuesday with a Turkish club after being harassed by fans.
Turkish top football division Spor Toto Super League club Genclerbirligi's general manager Seckin Topcu cornfirmed to an Anadolu Agency (AA) correspondent that the 25-year-old Deniz Naki's contract has been terminated.
The Germany born Turkish forward Naki had played for the club for a year and a half.
But Naki was physically assaulted by several people last weekend in Ankara.
Being of Kurdish descent, Naki has condemned Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Facebook. After the publication, he was abused with swearing on the social media website.
The young player told the story to the German newspaper Bild: "Sunday was our day off. Three people disturbed me while I was eating. They told me to go away as the club does not need players like me and this was the first warning for me."
He added that he was attacked soon after. Naki expressed that he gave some money to those people to let him go.
Genclerbirligi spokesman Hakan Kaynar said a couple of words about the departure of the player. Condemning the physical assault against Naki, Kaynar expressed that the footballers should draw attention to themselves with their talent, not with their tattoos, political views or ethnicity, and added that Naki has been trying to show his abilities out of the pitch by giving speeches rather than playing for the club.
"Deniz Naki visited board members to submit his request to leave. When asked the reason, he said that he wanted to leave the club due to decisions of the head coach, and because he wished to return to Germany. He did not say anything about the 'atrocious incident' as he had already talked to both the local and foreign press", the club's spokesman stated.
"We do not want to offend any players with our club, but unfortunately the player's statements to the press and the club staff are contradictory. We have learned that Naki had told some people in the club that he had been attacked outside a cafe, while he told some other people that he had suffered the assault in front of the club premises," Kaynar pointed out. Moreover Naki did not take his complaint to legal authorities, Kaynar said.
Kaynar added that both club's staff, and Genclerbirligi fans were happy to see Deniz Naki playing for the club, however the board let him go due to his performance at Genclerbirligi.
