Mehmet Buyukeksi: ‘I told our President, ‘We have kept our promise to you”

President of the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) Mehmet Buyukeksi stated that during his meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul last Friday, he promised to eliminate Austria, and when the President called to congratulate the team after the match, he reminded him of this promise by saying ‘We kept our promise.’ Buyukeksi made this statement.
TFF President Mehmet Buyukeksi made several statements after the victory against Austria. Buyukeksi reminded that he promised President Erdogan a victory against Austria during their meeting in Istanbul last Friday. He stated, ‘After yesterday’s victory, when the President called to congratulate the team after the match, I reminded him of this meeting by saying ‘We kept our promise.’ Right after the match, I went to the locker room, congratulated all the players one by one. We hugged each other. Finally, I hugged Montella. He leaned towards my ear and said, ‘We dedicate this victory to the Turkish nation and especially to you.’ The players welcomed me with cheers. Ismail Yuksek insisted a lot. I took a photo with them.’
‘Montella said ‘Don’t worry, President”
Buyukeksi, who expressed that the coach did not want to meet anyone before the match, said, ‘Before the match, the coach did not want to meet anyone. He did not even meet with his family. He directed all his concentration to the match. When I visited him to wish success before the Austria match, he said to me, ‘We will beat them with their own weapons, don’t worry, President.’ Thankfully, they achieved significant success and made us all happy.
‘We are experiencing and creating firsts’
Stating that they want to continue to make history by defeating the Netherlands in Berlin, Buyukeksi said, ‘We want to make history in Berlin too. Berlin is a city with a dense Turkish population. The Dutch fans are also loyal to their national team. I think there will be a great enthusiasm in the stands. We expect our fans to fill the Berlin Olympic Stadium as they do in every match of the tournament. I hope our team will make Turkey happy by reaching the semi-finals.’
‘Attacks from fake accounts’
Addressing the artificial crisis attempted to be created between Arda Guler and Montella after the Portugal match, Buyukeksi said, ‘An artificial crisis was tried to be created between Arda Guler and Montella after the Portugal match. However, we neutralized this artificial crisis with responsible behavior of our newspapers and television channels. In our investigation at that time, we found that 115 thousand messages were sent from bot accounts within 1 hour. This is a treacherous attack on our common value, the national team.’
‘We are a reformist administration’
Emphasizing that they are a reformist administration, Buyukeksi said, ‘We are a reformist administration, we have made significant reforms not only in the national team but also in issues such as the youth academy, referee academy, which are crucial for the future of Turkish football. Specifically for the national team, we entrusted the management of the A National Team and the U National Team to Montella. Thus, the pool of the A National Team has expanded.’
‘We will establish an Olympic National Team’
President Buyukeksi, also giving the good news of establishing an Olympic National Team, said, ‘We have not been able to participate in the Olympics in football for a long time. We will establish an Olympic National Team to be able to compete in that field. We will make preparations for it. We want to continue these projects to save the future of football, not just for today. The head coach of the A National Team is in contact with all the national team coaches in the younger age groups. Unfortunately, this was not the case in the past.’