Turkey threatens to leave EuroBasket

Georgia's game against Turkey was followed by controversy on and off the court.

With 4:48 left to play in the fourth quarter, Furkan Korkmaz and Duda Sanadze got involved in the scuffle after Georgian's foul on Philadelphia 76ers forward.

Both players were disqualified, but according to the Turkish national team, Furkan Korkmaz was attacked in the tunnel by three Georgian players and security guards after he left the court.

According to Ismail Senol from beIN, the trio that attacked Korkmaz was Tornike Shengelia, Goga Bitadze, and Sanadze.

Turkish basketball federation vice-president Omer Onan claimed that Turkey would leave EuroBasket if required footage won't be provided.

"If the security camera footage doesn't come to us, we will leave the tournament," Onan said in an official statement.

This statement came after Turkey's assistant coach Hakan Demir told in the press conference that three Georgian players and security personnel attacked Korkmaz.

"On the court, there is always tension, and the atmosphere was very good. Okay, something happened between the players," Hakan Demir said. "But after that, our player went to the locker room, and three Georgian national team players and security got involved in a fight. It's unacceptable."

???? According to Turkish basketball federation vice-president Omer Onan, Turkey might leave EuroBasket ??

Turkish national team are claiming that Furkan Korkmaz was attacked in the tunnel by three Georgian players and security guards after he left the court...#EuroBasket pic.twitter.com/uKWJrJVO2W

— BasketNews (@BasketNews_com) September 4, 2022

"Players can have arguments on the court, but off the court, they're friends. But if security or police [got involved], I don't know, we'll watch the footage. 

But these kinds of things are a big disappointment. We came here to play basketball and chose this country as a brother country. Unfortunately, it happened. Georgia won the game, and we congratulate them, it's not a problem.

The problem is what happened in the corridor. Of course, the news about what happened in the corridor and how our player was attacked came to our bench," Demir continued in his statement.

BasketNews asked Georgia's head coach Ilias Zouros about these claims during the press conference. However, the Greek tactician said that he didn't see or hear anything about it and that he does not know about the situation.

It was not the only moment that caused heated moments or controversy. Turkey also made the protest to FIBA because, during the Korkmaz-Sanadze incident, 22 seconds were lost from the clock and were never reverted back.

"To add, there were also 22 missed seconds. We will also follow this situation," Demir concluded.

Looks like @FIBA took 22 seconds off the clock when Furkan Korkmaz was disqualified from the game:

Georgia played great today, but this is odd. pic.twitter.com/FVTlNwGBKo

— Sergen Hasan Kumaş (@sergenkumas) September 4, 2022

Everything was concluded with Turkey's head coach Ergin Ataman's ejection.

With 21.6 seconds left in the second overtime, Cedi Osman tried to make an intentional foul but received an unsportsmanlike one instead.

After seeing such a decision, head coach Ergin Ataman got so heated that he got in one of the referee's faces and was eventually ejected.

Source: basketnews.com