Emre accused of racially abusing Zokora
Reuters - Thursday 19 April 2012, 14:53
Turkey's Trabzonspor filed a
civil law suit at an Istanbul court on Thursday accusing
Fenerbahce midfielder Emre Belozoglu of racially abusing their
Ivory Coast midfielder Didier Zokora during a match last
weekend.
The accusation, denied by Belozoglu, cast another cloud over
2011 league champions Fenerbahce whose chairman is currently on
trial as a suspect in a multi-million dollar match-fixing
scandal that rocked Turkish football last year.
Zokora first levelled the accusation against Belozoglu, who
is better known by his first name both in Turkey and
internationally, at a news conference following Fenerbahce's 2-0
home win in Istanbul over Trabonspor on Sunday.
"Emre and I had an argument during the game. I beg your
pardon for saying this, but he insulted me by saying nigger.
What upsets me more is how disgraceful it is for a player who
has African team-mates like Sow and Yobo to
insult an African from another team," Zokora said.
The following day, Belozoglu told a news conference that he
had abused Zokora verbally in English without using racist
terms, and that such abuse was commonplace during matches.
"If I have even a little bit of racism, may God take my
heart away from this body," Belozoglu said.
Both teams are playing in the play-offs against Galatasaray
and Besiktas for the domestic championship. Trabonspor was
runner up to Fenerbahce last year, but took its place in the
Champions League due to the match-fixing probe.
Belozoglu was accused of racism three times during his
three-year career at Newcastle United, but the Football
Association's investigations had concluded the accusations were
unproven.
Zokora previously played in England for Tottenham Hotspur.