Can we really count Trabzonspor as the Turkish Super League champion for the 2021–2022 season?

This headline seems a bit provocative. But in reality, it is not. I’m going to give you some explanations as to why it is not. However, it is worth mentioning the history of the tension and even the hostility between Fenerbahçe and Trabzonspor, which intensified with each passing year. Kadıköy is the birthplace of Fenerbahçe, and the city of Trabzon is the birthplace of Trabzonspor, places with two very different sociological realities… Istanbul teams dominated the leagues in Turkey for many years until Trabzonspor was founded. And in Turkey, not unlike in England, local city teams are not supported by the majority of the city population yet. People in rural areas of Turkey usually support Istanbul teams still. This situation led to the emergence of local fan groups that reacted to Istanbul teams over time. Championships were achieved by the team after Trabzon was founded in 1967 gifted passion for football to this city. This was meaning also a new challenge for the Istanbul teams that demonstrated the existence of a local force to respond to them which had not been seen before. Trabzon won the sympathy of many people in Anatolia (the Asian side of Turkey) with its melancholic people, gloomy weather, and strong winds. And for the first time outside of Istanbul in Turkey, they sympathized with such a team. On the other hand, for many years, Fenerbahçe was the team with the most championships in Turkish leagues until the first half of the 1990s. While Trabzon came from Anatolia and became the champion, they were competing with the most flamboyant team of these years, Fenerbahçe. Trabzonspor won the league title for the last time in 1984. They finished in the second position for 5 years. 4 of them, competed with Fenerbahçe in and lost these competitions. And the breaking point of the enmity between Fenerbahçe and Trabzonspor came to the stage in 1996 with the title that Fenerbahçe won. A few weeks before the end, Trabzonspor hosted Fenerbahçe while they were the leader. After leading this match behind 1–0 for a long time, Fenerbahçe won with two goals in the last minutes. As Trabzonspor has been longing for the championship for many years, it was a great disappointment for them that Fenerbahçe won the title. In 1998, Trabzon fans threw stones at the Fenerbahçe coach from the stands, and Fenerbahçe coach Otto Baric could not get up from the ground. Fenerbahçe withdrew from the match, forfeited, and was banned from the Turkish Cup for one year. The city of Trabzon consists of people who show their reactions violently. They get angry quickly and can easily use physical violence. Losing the trophy in 1996 never left their minds. After a few seasons, Fenerbahçe transferred the captains and best players (Ogün and Abdullah) of this team, and the hatred of Fenerbahçe in Trabzon increased even more. Fenerbahçe is symbolized as the handsome and charismatic man of the Turkish league. Galatasaray, on the other hand, is more like a great king. There are very few players who are not attracted by Fenerbahçe’s charisma. Trabzon’s away game was getting harder and harder for Fenerbahçe. So much so that the most important match for Trabzonspor was- and is-the Fenerbahçe matches. In 2010, Trabzonspor indirectly took revenge on Fenerbahçe. Fenerbahçe is not the team with the most champions in Turkish leagues, but it is the team with the most in the race. That’s why nobody likes Fenerbahçe. Because Fenerbahçe never gave them the league titles as a gift. In 2010, like never before, Bursaspor was in contention with Fenerbahçe for its first championship. And Fenerbahçe’s last match was in Kadıköy, guess who it was with? Trabzonspor. Bingo. If Fenerbahçe won this match, they would be champions, but in case of a draw or a loss, Bursaspor would become the champion for the first time in their history. As a matter of fact, Fenerbahçe erased Trabzon from the field that day. He played one of the best games in his history. But the ball went inside the line only once and the match ended 1–1 and this time Fenerbahçe lost the championship. The thing that made this match more dramatic was that the happiness of the Fenerbahçe fans with the wrong announcement of the Fenerbahçe official thought that they became champions and came on the stage to celebrate winning the title, was replaced by anger and anger when it had been realized that the truth was not like this and the true champion was Bursaspor. This time, Fenerbahçe fans could not control their anger, they burned their own stadium. The police used unprecedented violence against Fenerbahçe fans that day, and it was one of the most traumatic days in Fenerbahçe’s history. but the biggest breaking point in this hate cycle was the next season. Fenerbahçe won 16 of 17 games in the second half of the season and became the champion with an epic winning streak. Who is the second? Of course Trabzonspor. This was an unbearable pain for Trabzonspor, who wanted to be a champion for many years. But after that, things got even more complicated. At the end of the season, the prosecutors claimed that they had audio recordings and Fenerbahçe’s chairman had fixed the matches. The Chairman of Fenerbahçe, Aziz Yıldırım was jailed. Therefore, Turkish football was plunged into chaos. Fenerbahçe could not go to the champions league and the legal process began. Trabzonspor claimed that this trophy belongs to them. Fenerbahçe was acquitted, but this discourse of Trabzonspor continued. People of Trabzon have always been influential in politics because of their nature. After the failed coup attempt in 2016, the activities of ministers and deputies from Trabzon increased in Turkish politics. After staggering for a few years, Trabzonspor made planned moves under the chairmanship of Ahmet Ağaoğlu, and these moves were tacitly supported by politicians. As a matter of fact, Turkish politics has been designing Turkish football as it wishes for many years. Crowds have always attracted the attention of politicians. Fenerbahçe’s match-fixing allegations at the end of the 2011 season caused losing many important players. Fenerbahçe lost power in these years, except for a few years. Match-fixing allegations settled in Fenerbahçe like a chronic disease and created an obsession and hysteria in the club. Later, it became the official thesis of the Turkish state that after the unsuccessful military coup attempt in 2016, a religious community that is called a terrorist organization later played a role in the unsuccessful coup attempt in Turkey tried to take over Fenerbahçe on July 3, 2011. This situation strengthened Fenerbahçe’s hand. According to Fenerbahçe, Fenerbahçe did not fix the games but a religious community trying to seize the state claimed that Fenerbahçe did match-fixing. This situation brought Fenerbahçe’s acquittal from the lawsuits. But Trabzon claimed every year that this trophy belonged to him. They always said hysterically on their websites and local newspapers and social media channels stressed that the championship for that year was theirs. Such that even if you don’t have any projects, if you prove that you hate Fenerbahçe and you say that you will bring this trophy to Trabzonspor, you could be president of Trabzonspor. A president of Trabzonspor was elected president with just this rhetoric. This situation angered Fenerbahçe. Fenerbahçe accused Trabzonspor of owning the rhetoric of a terrorist organization. Because accepting the claim that Fenerbahçe fixed the games means; that it was essential to accept the rhetoric of an organization trying to take over the state. In Turkey, you can declare each other traitors for being less nationalistic. After the failed coup attempt in 2016, Turkey held a referendum that changed its political system. After this referendum, the parliamentary assembly left, and it was replaced by a Turkish-style presidential system. The President’s son-in-law and Interior Minister who took the seat after the failed 2016 coup attempt were/are from Trabzon. Being from Trabzon means suporting Trabzonspor. In Fenerbahçe, on the other hand, with the 3rd of July discourse, the supporters of Fenerbahçe were becoming more consolidated. So much so that the president, who was imprisoned but was released a year later, was constantly uniting Fenerbahçe fans around himself with this discourse. However, over the years, after each failure, the “fear of 3rd July” was used as a tool to manipulate Fenerbahçe fans. In the process, a presidential candidate loved by everyone in the community challenged the other president. And he became a candidate against the president who ruled Fenerbahçe for nearly 20 years. The new presidential candidate, who belongs to one of the richest families in Turkey, became the first choice of the people of Fenerbahçe with his projects and stance. But managing Fenerbahçe is not easy. The first years were pretty unsuccessful. Ali Koç, chairman of Fenerbahçe, was implicitly punished by the government for allegedly allocating hotels to the protesters during the demonstrations against the current government in Turkey — the Gezi Park protests-. In addition, contrary to the conservative structure of the current government, he had a secular Turkish thought. All of this brought with it ridiculous referee decisions for the poorly managed Fenerbahçe at the same time. To say that Trabzonspor lost the championship in the last few weeks this year would mean a bigger trauma than before. For this reason, Trabzonspor came to the fore with the matches it won with incredible referee decisions and the football that it played better than anyone else in the first half of the league. Trabzonspor has already won the games while playing well. The referees helped them when he played badly. And thus, the gap widened with the failure of other teams. Fenerbahçe recovered after the change of manager and experienced successive victories. But these wins were not effective enough to create a new trauma for Trabzonspor. Because this time, Trabzon was more effective than before in Turkish politics. And this time, they were not thinking of leaving their business to chance.

Why did I write this article? Because on April 4, 2015, a Fenerbahçe Team bus before the Fenerbahçe-Rizespor match in the north-eastern city of Turkey, Rize, a city bordering Trabzon; was shot while passing through Trabzon. This bus has returned from a great disaster. Fenerbahçe footballers could have died — no exaggeration — but despite this, the state could not find out who did it. It’s funny that a powerful state like Turkey can’t find the person who did this. And that day, after that bullet, Fenerbahçe players lost the championship due to bad performances and loss of motivation, even though they returned to İstanbul as a leader of the table. Trabzon took the championship with bullets from Fenerbahçe this time, but not for himself.

Trabzonspor’s championship has been declared for this year after 38 years. Fenerbahçe’s mascot today, the canary, is on the tip of a hunter’s rifle from Trabzon, this banner was in the Trabzon’s stadium. Because the surname of the current coach of Trabzonspor is Avcı means Hunter. Trabzon fans are making an ugly reference to the Trabzonspor supporter who shot the Fenerbahçe bus on April 4, 2015. And that explains why Fenerbahçe lost the championship this year. All these facts tell us quite clearly that Trabzonspor is not the only rival of Fenerbahçe. A conservative administration versus secular chairman of Fenerbahçe, ministers from Trabzon, unbelievable referee decisions which are related to the political attitude of Fenerbahçe identity, bulleted buses, a sassy city that they think they can do whatever they want with their ugly slogan “Everywhere is Trabzon for us”… And yellow-dark blue colors trying to fight all these are… Can we accept this year’s champion as Trabzonspor?

Fenerbahce has not been in the championship race in the last three years due to the inexperience of its new charismatic, rich, and secular president. But his latest performance informs us that next season will not be like that. He is an experienced chairman now ready to do everything for Fenerbahçe. Fenerbahçe has the most valuable and young players in the league and we will probably witness a new Trabzonspor Fenerbahce clash again. I hope this time only Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor will have this clash. The allied power of Trabzon will not include the clash implicitly.