Turkish refereeing has suffered a heavy blow. Judicial investigations have turned towards one of its most prominent officials, with authorities arresting Ferhat Gündoğdu, head of the Turkish Central Referee Committee (MHK), along with six other suspects in a case relating to accusations of harassment and forgery of official documents.
Istanbul's public prosecutor's office is leading the investigation, which involved simultaneous operations in Istanbul, Ankara, Elazığ and Manisa. Investigators are focusing on suspicions relating to the mechanisms of selecting, classifying and appointing referees.
Turkish media reports say the investigation is examining allegations of excluding certain referees without objective and justified decisions, and failing to appoint others. It is also looking into the favouring of particular referees and interference in the qualification and appointment processes.
Suspicions also surround unauthorised changes made to the lists of referees and observers drawn up during 2022 and 2024, according to the Spanish newspaper Marca.
Alongside Ferhat Gündoğdu, those detained included Ferdi Karadoruk, head of the Istanbul delegation in the Referees and Observers Association, Ahmet Şahin, former deputy head of the Central Referee Committee, Yunus Yıldırım, a former member of the committee, and Sabahattin Şahin, a current member. Two Istanbul Referees Association officials, Alican Sağlar and Emre Küçük, were also arrested.
Investigators uncovered conversations on the "WhatsApp" application found on Karadoruk's phone, which dealt with lists of referees and how to handle them.
In one exchange, after the names of four referees came up, one participant wrote: "Let's delete these four", before the reply came: "Let's be careful" and "Don't delete them immediately".
Another conversation saw Karadoruk refer to one of the referees, before the messages included phrases such as "Since he won't bow down.. let's cut off his head and be done with it".