The Not-So-Beautiful Game
By ANDREW FINKEL
ISTANBUL — “Welcome to hell!” was how Istanbul fans once greeted foreign soccer teams. But now it’s Turkey’s top team that finds itself in a small hell of its own making. Not only is a recent match-fixing scandal threatening the country’s premier league, but it has also forced the governing Justice and Development (AK) Party into scoring against itself. The party that was elected in 2002 as the new broom to sweep Turkey clean looks like it’s sweeping dirt under the carpet.
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