Football is a Political Weapon in Turkey (Guest column)
By Patrick Keddie
Turkish football has always been political. When Fuat Hüsnü Kayacan formed the first Turkish-Muslim team – the Black Stockings – in 1901 he was charged in a military court with “setting up goal posts, wearing the same uniforms as Greeks, and kicking balls around.”
The Ottomans had banned Turkish-Muslims from playing the sport as they wer…