There has been drama over in the EuroBasket, with Philadelphia 76ers forward and Turkish player Furkan Korkmaz reportedly attacked by Georgia players.
Turkey has threatened to leave the tournament if security footage of the incident is not released, which is said to have taken place in the locker room after Korkmaz was ejected.
Turkey, who lost 88-83, also officially protested the result of the game after 22 seconds were taken off the clock during the altercation between Korkmaz and Duda Sanadze.
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“The fact that this is not just 1 or 2 seconds but 22 makes us think that the situation is not just an error,” assistant coach Hakan Demir said, per EuroHoops.
Korkmaz and Sanadze were ejected after coming together in the fourth quarter, although that was only the start of the drama according to Turkish federation vice president Omer Onan.
“While Furkan Korkmaz was walking in the hallway to the locker rooms with our trainer, Georgia’s players who were not on the active roster attacked him together with the ejected player (Duda Sanadze) and the police,” he told reporters, per EuroHoops.
“There should not be an attack on the player that goes to the locker room. At the end of the match, 30 policemen each pushed us into a fight. We got into a fight with Georgia’s official police.
“I am calling out to FIBA and I have also told FIBA’s officials. Let no one deceive themselves or think that we are stupid. They will bring us all the camera footage from that corridor minute by minute without anything missing. If those cameras do not come to us, we will leave this tournament.”
Demir also alleged that security guards “attacked our player and our trainer” as Korkmaz was set upon by “three opposing team players”.
“We came here to play basketball, not box,” he added.
“Therefore, we are very disturbed by the security weakness experienced today. We will follow up on this issue as well. Today, the Georgian players and some security guards in the hallway disrespected us. We came here to play basketball, not for anything else.
“So everything should stay on the court, but unfortunately, a big scandal took place off the court. Such things do not suit the spirit of sports. A basketball game was supposed to be played today, but unfortunately what happened went beyond basketball.
“We have two more games left in Georgia and, unfortunately, what happened in the corridors today was against the spirit of the sport. We expected a more gentlemanly treatment, but unfortunately, it did not happen.”
Demir went on to claim that he would be following up on why 22 seconds were taken off the game clock during the Korkmaz-Sanadze incident, alleging it was a deliberate act.
“The fact that this is not just 1 or 2 seconds but 22 makes us think that the situation is not just an error,” he said.
“We will follow this as well. We came to Georgia expecting to be in a sister country. Yes, there was tension between the players on the court today, but it is not possible for us to accept what happened afterward.
“Players can have tension with each other on the court, but they are friends off the court. It is very sad that the security guards are also involved in the incident today. Of course, Georgia won the match, I congratulate them too, but that’s not the point. What really matters is what happens in the corridors”.
