By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Turkoglu first spoke on the matter after the defeat of Turkey by Spain and today he named directly Demirel for not “supporting his own country”.
Demirel is the current FIBA Europe president and a former president of the Turkish basketball federation. According to Turkoglu who spoke to “Anadolu News Agency”: “We were expecting FIBA Europe President, Turgay Demirel to support his own country during the EuroBasket 2017. He did not show the interest and support we expected. The most disheartening part of the EuroBasket on our behalf was the mistakes made by the refs. We were terribly saddened by the fact that Turgay Demirel did not take any action regarding those mistakes. We could not believe his claims about not being invited in the championship promotion night. We have the files verifying that he was invited and accepted our invitation. We wished he had been there with us on that night, after all he holds Turkish citizenship. We would have liked to see him supporting his national team at an organization which is held in his homeland. He didn’t attended any practice of the team, or the games.”
On the matter of tickets sold in the final phase, Turkoglu added: “Gyms were filled despite the fact that tournament’s first days took place during the religious holidays. I would like to publicly thank all the fans who showed interest in the games.”