A German-Kurdish player previously convicted of support for Kurdish separatists in Turkey has been banned for life, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) said on Tuesday. Deniz Naki, 28, was banned from all competitive games for three years and six months and charged 273,000 liras ($72,000) for “separatist and ideological propaganda”, the TFF said. Procedurally, any suspension longer than three years in Turkey constitutes a life ban, meaning Naki will not be able to play soccer in the country again. Turkish authorities have cracked down on public expressions of dissent about the ground offensive against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Source: Egypt Independent January 30, 2018 13:07 UTC