By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
The officiating was on the agenda after Game 3 of the Turkish Basketball Super Lig semifinal series between Anadolu Efes and Fenerbahce Beko.
Fenerbahce‘s coach Dimitris Itoudis complained about various calls, the Club issued an official statement, and Turkish Basketball Federation then decided that the three referees from the match, Aytuğ Ekti, Zafer Yılmaz, and Serdar Ünal, won’t be officiating until the end of the season.
After the decision was made, Aytug Ekti announced that he is ending his refereeing career.
“As a referee within the Turkish Basketball Federation for 30 years, I would like to inform the public that I am ending my career as a referee due to my respect for the refereeing profession, as I condemn and reject the decision of the Turkish Basketball Federation to ‘rest the referees until the end of the season,’ which was made by the Turkish Insurance Basketball Super League after 2022-2023 season play-off semifinal match between Efes and Fenerbahçe as a result of the aforementioned technical errors. The term ‘referee’s decision affecting the outcome of the match’ is unacceptable for those of us who are tasked with ensuring fair competition conditions in matches. Still, the Fenerbahçe Management insistently demands greater and more deterrent sanctions.
At this point, my priority in making this decision is my respect for the profession of refereeing, which has been criticized by concluding that the results of the aforementioned match were not technically determined. Thirty years ago, I chose my job as a referee out of respect for my ancestors; I regret that my devotion to fulfill my duty as a referee did not end in the way it deserved, but at the same time, I feel a sense of responsibility to cleanse a professional group from this stigma in a manner befitting the devotion I have shown. In light of human ethical values and sporting moral values, I wish my fellow referees many more successful seasons from now on in which they do not have to explain themselves and their technical decisions to the federations they are responsible for and the teams whose matches they are obliged to officiate, but are subject only to the International Basketball Rules,” Ekti stated.