Beşiktaş commemorates victims, donates revenues to families
by Daily Sabah with AA
ISTANBULDec 13, 2016 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Daily Sabah with AA
Dec 13, 2016 12:00 am
The Beşiktaş sports club, which lost an employee and a congress member to Saturday night's attacks, commemorated the victims with a ceremony on Monday. The team pledged to donate the revenues of Wednesday's match with local Kayserispor to the victims' families.
Two blasts took place outside the team's stadium, Vodafone Arena, on Saturday and though the apparent target was police officers, several civilians, including Tunç Uncu, a clerk at the team's official merchandise shop at the stadium, were killed.
Vefa Karakurdu, the police chief who was overseeing stadium security, was another victim close to the club and he was also serving as a member of Beşiktaş's congress.
The club's president Fikret Orman and fellow executives left carnations at the site. Speaking at the ceremony, Orman said they condemned the heinous attack against police and felt very sorry for Uncu and Karakurdu.
"This community, which lost members in Çanakkale and Sarıkamış will not give in to these dogs," a visibly angry Orman said at the ceremony, referring to World War I fronts where Beşiktaş players and family members who had volunteered for the army lost their lives.
Orman said season tickets will not be valid in Wednesday's match and all revenues will be delivered to the "families of the martyrs."
The Turkish and international sports community already pitched their support for Turkey against terrorism.
Slaven Bilic, the former coach of Beşiktaş, dedicated his new team West Ham's point in a 2-2 draw at Liverpool on Sunday to the Turkish public and said, "I feel for them. My prayers are for them. It's unbelievable what happened there. They are the best people I ever met. It is basically tearing me apart what's happened there."
Elsewhere, teams in Spain's top football league La Liga dedicated a minute of silence in memory of terror victims following the attacks.
"La Liga would like to express its abhorrence of any type of violence and show its support and solidarity with the victims and families directly affected by this barbaric act. These acts of violence have no place in the world of sport, or any other sphere," an official statement from La Liga officials said.
In London, the arch at Wembley Stadium was illuminated in the colors of the Turkish flag Sunday to also show solidarity with Turkey.
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