The Turkish Football Federation has fined and suspended second-division title favorite Amespor from its chairmanship over a video posted on social media.
Published January 30, 2026
The Turkish Football Federation (TFF) has fined Turkiye’s main Kurdish soccer team for “ideological propaganda” in support of Kurdish forces in northern Syria, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) said on Tuesday.
Amezspor FC, based in Diyarbakir, the main city in the Kurdish-majority southeast, was fined 802,500 Turkish liras (approximately $18,500) and its president was suspended from all soccer activities for 15 days, TFF said in a statement late Thursday.
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At issue was a 20-second clip on a social media account showing a woman braiding her hair to a soundtrack featuring the widely used Kurdish slogan “Jin, Ziyan, Azadi” (meaning “Women, Life, Freedom”).
Over the past week, hair braiding has become a symbol of solidarity with Syrian Kurds as Damascus presses forward with a military offensive in the northeastern region, once part of the Kurdish de facto autonomous government.
In recent weeks, social media has been flooded with clips of women braiding their hair in response to a video showing a Syrian soldier holding up a braid that the Syrian army claims was cut from a recently captured female Kurdish fighter in Raqqa.
Although the claim could not be independently verified, it sparked a backlash online.
TFF said the club was guilty of “conducting ideological propaganda” and “damaging the reputation of football”.
Amespor chairman Nahit Eren told AFP that he had appealed the decision, but declined to comment further.
Ellen, a former president of the Diyarbakir Bar Association, posted on X on Tuesday about “efforts to involve our club in various controversies.”
Amezspor, currently at the top of the second division, could be promoted to Turkiye’s first division Super Lig this year for the first time in their history.
