Turkish Football Federation suspends all league matches until further notice

By Emre Asikci

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Turkish Football Federation suspended all league matches Tuesday until further notice following an attack on a FIFA licensed referee.

"The responsible club and its managers will be punished most severely. Everyone who has ever targeted referees is complicit in this despicable crime," the federation’s president, Mehmet Buyukeksi, said after an extraordinary meeting of its board of executives.

Turkish top-tier club MKE Ankaragucu's president Faruk Koca physically attacked referee Halil Umut Meler after his side’s draw against Caykur Rizespor on Monday.

Following the match's conclusion, Koca entered the field and punched Meler in the face.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X that Koca was receiving treatment at a hospital under police supervision after he felt faint following his violent action on the field, adding that “detention procedures will be carried out after the treatment."

Yerlikaya also said that two other individuals who kicked Meler in the head during the incident were detained on the instructions of the Ankara West Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.