By Johnny Askounis/ [email protected]
Following Game 1 of the Finals of the Turkiye Sigorta Basketbol Super Ligi Playoffs 2025, Besiktas Fibabanka released an official announcement, to display ‘scandals leaving a black mark on Turkish basketball history.’
Falling to Istanbul rival Fenerbahce Beko in Ulker Sports Arena shaped a 1-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series.
The club statement confirmed the team’s opinion on referee Yener Yilmaz and his decisions on Tuesday.
“He sees no harm in showing his hostile feelings towards our club with decisions that are miles away from justice at every opportunity. He has proven once again that he is a disgrace to the basketball referee community by unfairly sending off our head coach Dusan Alimpijevic, who used his right to challenge three times in the first half of Game 1 of the Finals against Fenerbahce Beko and was right all three times, by staging a pre-planned scheme in his mind.
The same Yener Yilmaz, immediately after his disgraceful decision, threatened to end the match if our head coach Dusan Alimpijevic did not leave the floor immediately, even though he had no authority to do so.
We call on the Turkish Basketball Federation to take action to keep this person, whose hostility towards our club is now known even to the deaf sultan, away from the courts.”
Fener board member Sertac Komsuoglu was the focus of the second part of the press release.
“Instead of trying to silence the fans who used unspeakable expressions towards our athletes and board members throughout the game, he showed his nature by behaving in the exact opposite way due to hospitality.
We strongly condemn Sertac Komsuoglu, who made actions and statements that are completely unbecoming of a manager and who is so cruel that he sees every way as permissible to win.”
In conclusion, Besiktas added formal requests concerning Yilmaz and Komsuoglu.
“We do not want to see Yener Yilmaz, the source of shame for Turkish basketball, on the court.
We invite Fenerbahce board member Sertac Komsuoglu to our home games in the Finals to learn how to host a guest.”
“We want justice”
Also, Besiktas board member and manager of the basketball division, Ozkan Arseven, made an official statement after Game 1.
“We all watched a referee scandal tonight. Yener Yilmaz, who has proven himself to be an enemy of the Besiktas community, exceeded his limits today and unfairly sent off our coach.
We have met with the federation officials many times regarding how Yener Yilmaz, who was also in a similar scandal in the series we played with Anadolu Efes, was assigned to this game. We ask the Turkish Basketball Federation not to assign referees who violate Besiktas’ rights. We call on the federation to take action so that Yener Yılmaz hangs up his whistle.
Our team’s rights have been violated. Our team has been defeated with the whistles blown against us. We are fighting until the last drop of our sweat. We want justice, not favoritism. We see what our team does when there is justice. We hope this will be the last scandal.
We also experienced unpleasant events in the stands today. The hooligans’ insults towards us must end. The administrators should stand up against them. It should be. Fenerbahce board member Sertac Komsuoglu has been completely on the side of hooliganism. We do not accept his style. We will show him how to host in our home games. We are against hooliganism. I expect an apology from Fenerbahce on behalf of myself and the board of directors.
Hopefully, we will not experience such unpleasant events in the upcoming games. We want justice. Our team will know how to win every game, managed fairly by fighting until the last drop of sweat.
When the referees of the Finals were announced, we expressed our reaction to the name Yener Yilmaz to the federation and the referee board. Yener Yilmaz will not be in the other games, but every game is very important for us. Today, we lost a game as a result of referee decisions.”
Play In Tournament
Galatasaray – Onvo Buyukcekmece 94-70
Bursaspor Yorsan – Turk Telekom 70-74
Onvo Buyukcekmece – Turk Telekom 73-84
BSL Playoffs
Quarterfinals (best of three)
Fenerbahce Beko – Turk Telekom 2-1 (89-68, 77-85, 101-94)
Tofas – Bahcesehir Koleji 1-2 (94-80, 65-75, 92-96)
Besiktas Fibabanka – Galatasaray 2-0 (91-75, 107-85)
Anadolu Efes – Mersin Spor 2-0 (92-71, 84-81)
Semifinals (best of five)
Fenerbahce Beko – Bahcesehir Koleji 3-0 (93-76, 91-89, 93-84)
Besiktas Fibabanka – Anadolu Efes 3-2 (87-90, 97-70, 87-94, 64-75, 82-75)
Finals (best of seven)
Fenerbahce Beko – Besiktas Fibabanka 1-0 (94-76)