New Statement from Hacıosmanoğlu on 2016 Match, Bitnel Responds

TFF President İbrahim Hacıosmanoğlu brought up the Galatasaray vs. Trabzonspor match played in Istanbul in 2016 once again. Reminding that four red cards were shown in the match, which Galatasaray won 3-2, Hacıosmanoğlu spoke on a program on A Spor about the investigation and the referees who had filed lawsuits against him.

Hacıosmanoğlu said his WhatsApp messages with Ferhat Gündoğdu had leaked to the press. He stated that seven referees filed criminal complaints against him because of those messages. He said that on the day he took office, he asked for a list of the people who had officiated the Galatasaray, Konyaspor and Gaziantep FK matches, both on the field and at the TFF. He added that all the names on the list were linked to FETÖ and that he had said none of them could work.

Hacıosmanoğlu said many former referees were involved in the investigation and mentioned Deniz Ateş Bitnel by name. He claimed that in the Galatasaray vs. Trabzonspor match, Salih Dursun received a red card and showed it to the referee, and that Mustafa Yumlu punched someone at the end of the match but was not shown a red card. Saying that stoppage time should have been 8 to 10 minutes while the referee added only three, he called for both legal and illegal betting on the match to be investigated.

Deniz Ateş Bitnel responded to Hacıosmanoğlu's statements through his social media account. Bitnel said Hacıosmanoğlu needed to prove the claim that he had been punched, and accused him of charging him with betting. He wrote that he had ended the match early and that the prosecutors of the time had found no stain on him. Bitnel said he was ready to be investigated again.