ISTANBUL
Istanbul sports club Fenerbahce’s chairman has vowed his side will never release a player for international duty so long as Turkish national coach Ergin Ataman remains in his job.
Aziz Yildirim targeted Ataman – also coach of city archrivals Galatasaray – when he joined a TV broadcast on the Haberturk channel on Thursday.
It is thought his opposition comes from Ataman’s simultaneous role as a club and national manager.
"I called the Turkish Basketball Federation president [Harun Erdenay]. If Ergin Ataman maintains his job with the national team, Fenerbahce will not send any player to Turkey and will call them back," Yildirim said.
Turkish Basketball Federation (TBF) chairman Erdenay said he agrees with Yildirim that the national coach has to manage only the national team.
"We can discuss Aziz Yildirim's remarks but the timing of his remarks is wrong", Erdenay revealed in a statement.
"A few days ago I said that it is not possible to persuade any top-level coach to manage the national team for only two months and do nothing for 10 months. When we signed with Mr. Ergin Ataman as Turkey coach, he was contracted to Galatasaray as well", the TBF chair said.
"I agree with Fenerbahce President Mr. Aziz Yildirim that the national team coach should manage only the national team. We will discuss the issue after EuroBasket 2015," he added.
EuroBasket 2015 – an international tournament among European teams – is to run between 5-20 September.
On Wednesday, Galatasaray published a statement on website about the crisis.
"Fenerbahce President Aziz Yildirim forgets that Bogdan Tanjevic had managed Fenerbahce and Turkey at the same time in the past", the Lions said.
Galatasaray said that they did not sign any player from Fenerbahce this term.
"On the contrary, Fenerbahce transferred our former player Ilkan Karaman in an irregular way while Tanjevic was managing Turkey three seasons ago. We wish good luck to coach Ataman and his staff and the national team players in the tournament."
