TOSFED Issues Public Statement

The Board of the Turkish Motorsport Federation (Tosfed) has stated that, in press statements and interviews given in various media over the past year by A. Vural Ak, who controls the federation-affiliated organiser club Istanbul Park Sports Club Association (İPSK), the federation's legal entity and management have been targeted, and that it has become necessary to respond to the claims made in those outlets. It has issued a public statement.

The text of the statement is as follows:

Mr A. Vural Ak essentially claims that "our Federation is the biggest obstacle to the development of motorsport" and that "they have been obstructed by our Federation"; in other words, that the Istanbul Park Sports Club Association, which he controls, has been subjected to arbitrary discrimination by us. In fact, in 2018 alone, the Istanbul Park Sports Club Association submitted applications to our Federation for three separate single-make cups, the fourth round of the Turkish Off-road Championship and the first round of the Marmara Baja Cup. All of these applications were approved by us, included in our 2018 racing calendar and completed. In other words, every one of the applications made by the Istanbul Park Sports Club Association in 2018 for a total of five separate event organisations (30 races in total) was approved by our Federation's management, and those events were held. Furthermore, before TOSFED's management was taken over by us, the total number of races organised by the Istanbul Park Sports Club Association in 2015 was five, whereas the total number of races it organised in 2018 alone is thirty. Therefore, not only has there been no obstruction on our part, but the increase in the number of race events organised is borne out by the figures.

Mr A. Vural Ak had previously put forward his claims that "they have been subjected to arbitrary discrimination by our Federation" before the Arbitration Board, the body that resolves disputes between sports clubs and federations and derives its authority from our Constitution, through İPSK and Eylül Tarım Oto Kiralama Pazarlama A.Ş., which he owns. As he was unable to substantiate his claims with concrete facts, these claims were rejected by the Arbitration Board. In multiple applications to the Arbitration Board, Mr A. Vural Ak asserted that our Federation's practices and rules were drawn up specifically to obstruct them, and all of those applications were rejected as they contained baseless claims. Despite the final decisions of 30.05.2018 and 11.07.2018 issued by the Arbitration Board on the applications of Eylül Tarım Oto Kiralama Pazarlama A.Ş., and the final decisions of 30.05.2018 and 11.07.2018 issued on the applications of the Istanbul Park Sports Club Association, the repetition of the same claims in press statements made by Mr A. Vural Ak is, on the one hand, regrettable and, on the other, extremely thought-provoking. After all, there must be a purpose behind the frequent repetition of claims that have been established by judicial decisions not to reflect the truth. Looking at Mr A. Vural Ak's conduct under previous administrations, it will be seen that he has sought to wear down administrations he could not bring under his tutelage with similar accusations and claims. It is therefore clear that the main aim of these unfounded claims is to discredit our Federation's legal entity and management in the eyes of the public.

In addition to the baseless claims mentioned above, Mr A. Vural Ak's earlier press statements also included remarks that exceeded the limits of criticism and amounted to insults against our Federation's legal entity and management. Following an examination that took into account the fact that Mr A. Vural Ak's statements were made repeatedly, targeted more than one person, were made through the press and media, and the gravity and intensity of the allegations, our Federation's Disciplinary Board, by its decision of 30.05.2018, imposed on him a "deprivation of rights and a fine", and following his appeal, the sanction was reviewed and upheld by the Arbitration Board. Until now, apart from the responses we gave in connection with his appeal before the Arbitration Board, we, as the Federation's management, had not exercised our right of reply before the public regarding these remarks. We would therefore like to share our views on them with the public:

As also stated in the case law of our Court of Cassation, criticism and freedom of expression are concepts that essentially serve social progress and the development of the individual. Individuals or institutions can improve their conduct and practices and take them to a higher level by taking into account the criticism directed at them, which is one of the most important elements for social progress. The most important element of criticism is that it can be expressed freely. Of course, this freedom is not unlimited.

The expressions used by Mr A. Vural Ak, however, are not criticism but amount directly to insult and slander, and the only thing they serve is to discredit our Federation, a public institution affiliated with the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Türkiye and established solely to work for the development and spread of sport at grassroots level, and to destroy its standing as an institution in the eyes of the public. In his most recent interview, dated 20.11.2018, Mr A. Vural Ak claimed that our Federation had threatened teams in order to prevent them from taking part in Vfest, organised by Intercity-İPSK. It is clear that there can be no question of a public institution working to develop the sport threatening teams. We cannot accept these claims, which have been made without any basis in material fact. Instead of this systematic insult and slander directed at our Federation's institutional identity and management, what we, as the Federation's management, expect from Mr A. Vural Ak is that he contribute to the development of motorsport in Türkiye by offering well-founded criticism.

Finally, the matter we wish to clarify concerns his statements about the World Rallycross Championship. In the interview of 20.11.2018, he stated: "The biggest obstacle to motorsport is the Turkish Automobile Federation (TOSFED)! Unfortunately, they try to block everything we attempt to do. If we can overcome their obstruction, we want to bring back the World Rallycross Championship that we organised here for two years. We want to bring similar major events too, but unfortunately, when the Federation should be supporting us in the face of the sport, this body stands before us as the biggest obstacle". As a Federation, we learned for the first time through this interview that Mr A. Vural Ak wanted to bring the World Rallycross Championship to Türkiye. Not only has no application been made to us on this matter, but we have also received no information indicating that written or verbal discussions have been held on it. Although the draft calendar of the World Rallycross Championship has not yet been approved by the World Motor Sport Council, Türkiye does not appear on this calendar. The counterpart of the Championship at the International Automobile Federation (FIA) is our Federation, the sole authority for motorsport in our country. We therefore inform you that the statements made were without our knowledge.

Yours sincerely,
TOSFED Board