Turkish league leaders Amedspor: An entire population is insulted

Sunday September 20th. Beşiktaş is a guest of Amedspor in Diyarbakır, which is predominantly inhabited by Kurds. The club from the southeast of the country has just been promoted to the top Turkish league. The winner goes into the international break as league leaders ahead of Galatasaray.

Before the game, something unusual happened on social media: fans of Beşiktaş and Amedspor greeted each other in a friendly manner. Given the racist attacks that Amedspor is otherwise subjected to, my club's attitude makes me happy. During the game, some fans criticize the racist treatment of Amedspor by other clubs and chant together - unfortunately not without homophobic comments. Amed leads by two goals after 22 minutes and ends up winning 3-2. A club that was playing in the third division three years ago is now at the top.

After the game, a wave of racism swept over social media. Beşiktaş fans are accused of being friends with terrorist supporters. Symbols are again being spread that allude to and condone the unsolved murders of Kurds by paramilitary forces in the 1990s. Opponents of the AKP claim that Amed is being protected because of the ongoing peace process with the PKK.

Some Beşiktaş fans blame the referee for the defeat. This mistrust seems understandable given the recent scandal involving the chairman of the Central Referees Committee, which landed him in prison along with his favorite referee. However, it is also likely to be fueled by nationalist sentiments.

Using football as an instrument to keep social conflicts within state borders is not unusual. Diyarbakırspor, another Kurdish club, rose again in the late 1990s and early 2000s - with open state support. So, paradoxically, the club became both a figurehead for the Kurds and a so-called “state club”.

In his book “Sahadaki Kimlik Amedspor”, the political scientist Vahap Coşkun examines the importance of Amedspor for his supporters. One of them describes the connection with Diyarbakırspor as follows: “When someone says Amedspor, the wound of Diyarbakırspor hurts us first.” He's not referring to the part about the "state club" but to the overall discrimination the team faced.

The club, formerly called Belediyespor, requested to be renamed Amedspor in 2014 - during a peace process. The Turkish Football Association demanded that either the name or the club colors be changed. Yellow, red and green are also associated with Kurdish identity. Last year showed how “dangerous” these colors can be: after promotion to the Süper Lig, Senegalese striker Mbaye Diagne showed his country’s flag on the pitch. The police then drove to his apartment following a report.

Amed is a historical name of the city that existed long before the Kurds. Today, however, it also stands for cultural memory and political struggle. That is why insults against Amedspor are not only directed against eleven players, but against an entire population. When the war with the PKK escalated again in 2015, Kurdish cities were destroyed, civilians were killed and politicians were imprisoned, there was hardly any space left for the people. A fan interviewed by Coşkun said: "Everything where the population could still breathe was closed. In the end, only Amedspor remained."

The name has turned a city club into one that receives support far beyond Diyarbakır. The club, which once had 300 fans at its games, now fills a 33,000-seat stadium.

As I write this text, I am sitting in the center of Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır's southwestern neighboring city. In a shop that sells counterfeit jerseys, the mannequins of Istanbul's major clubs now also wear Amedspor's colors: a white jersey with three thin stripes of color.

“Are these jerseys selling well?” I ask the shop owner.

“And how!” he answers. Then he pauses and gives me a sideways glance, as if he's considering why I'm asking this, whether I'm a racist.

Because anyone who supports Amedspor always has to be on their guard.