Turkish football club terminates new transfer’s contract after finding out he’s Kurdish – report

Turkish football club Genclerbirligi has terminated Sweden-born Rodin Cem Deprem’s contract a day after signing it, when finding out that the 24-year-old winger was Kurdish.

"The only reason for the termination of the contract is because Rodin Cem Deprem was Kurdish and previously played for Dalkurd that Genclerbirligi deemed to be a terrorist football club," a congress member of Genclerbirligi told Bianet on condition of anonymity. Dalkurd FF is a Swedish football club that was founded by Kurdish diaspora in 2004 and plays at the country's third tier, Bianet said on Tuesday.

Denying the allegations, the President of Genclerbirligi Niyazi Aktas said the contract was terminated on mutual terms.

"After we signed the contract with him as a striker, we thought that we should not play with the child's future, because it would not be a pity. And also we would have given more money. So we terminated the contract by a mutual agreement," he said.

But according to the congress member speaking to the news website, this was a distortion.

“Following the reactions, they said that the contract was terminated due to economic conditions, but this was completely distorted," he said.