Sports center named after 'communist' football player

One of the items on the agenda of the Istanbul Municipality Assembly's June meeting was the name change of some streets, squares and facilities. At the meeting, it was unanimously decided to name the “Tayyare Square Street” in Bakırköy Sakızağacı Neighborhood after Bakırköy artist Cem Karaca, who died in 2004.

The square built at the intersection of Nazım Hikmet Avenue and Ahmet Arif Avenue in Esenyurt was also unanimously named after the writer Yaşar Kemal.

One of the CHP group's proposals was to change the name of the Yedikule Youth Club Sports Center in Zeytinburnu, which was recently renovated by İBB, to 'Yedikule Metin Kurt Sports Center'. The AKP group, which supported other changes, objected to the name of Metin Kurt.

AKP Group Spokesperson Faruk Gökkuş said, “Metin Kurt was a national football player, but he had a strong ideological stance. He was an MP candidate for the Communist Party of Turkey. His only connection to that place is that he was a coach at Yedikule Sports Club for a while, and that's it. He is not someone who lived there. We think that this name was given due to ideological motives. For this reason, we vote against this motion."

AKP councilmember Muhammet Kaynar argued that according to the legislation, the two-thirds majority required to change the existing name of a place could not be achieved.

Despite the objections of AKP members, the facility was named Metin Kurt with a majority vote.

(Mİ/DT)