PHILADELPHIA — Sixers guard Furkan Korkmaz, who is currently playing with Turkey at EuroBasket 2022, got into a physical altercation with Georgia’s Duda Sanadze and was subsequently ejected during a game Sunday at Tbilisi Sports Palace in Georgia.
Korkmaz, who is typically mild-mannered, reacted after Sanadze committed a hard foul against him during the controversial game. He came face to face with Sanadze, who was also ejected, as each player became irate and benches cleared on both sides. Turkey coach Ergin Ataman was also later kicked out of the game.
But the incident didn’t end on the court. Korkmaz was allegedly attacked after the game as he attempted to walk to the locker room. Sanadze, other non-active Georgia players, and local police were all involved in the attack, according to statements from Korkmaz and Turkish federation vice president Omer Onan.
“We started throwing punches at each other. That’s basically what happened,” Korkmaz said in a statement, according to basketnews.com. “It was like a street fight. There was no talk or conversation. People just came at us and were trying to attack us. Of course, we reacted and tried defending ourselves.”
Onan called on FIBA to react swiftly to the situation and threatened to leave EuroBasket.
“There should not be an attack on the player that goes to the locker room,” Onan said, according to eurohoops.net. “At the end of the match, 30 policemen each pushed us into a fight. We got into a fight with Georgia’s official police. I am calling out to FIBA and I have also told FIBA’s officials. Let no one deceive themselves or think that we are stupid. They will bring us all the camera footage from that corridor minute by minute without anything missing. If those cameras do not come to us, we will leave this tournament.”
Turkey also protested the events of the game. They claimed that after Sanadze’s foul on Korkmaz, 22 seconds ran off the clock and contributed to their 88-83 loss. FIBA dismissed that claim.
But that took a backseat to the incident involving Korkmaz. Turkey assistant coach Hakan Demir echoed Onan’s sentiment at the postgame news conference.
“Today, the Georgian players and some security guards in the hallway disrespected us,” Demir said. “We came here to play basketball, not for anything else. So everything should stay on the court, but unfortunately, a big scandal took place off the court. Such things do not suit the spirit of sports.”
Turkey, who lost 72-69 to Spain on Wednesday, finished with a 3-2 record in group play. They will play France on Saturday in Berlin in the Round of 16.
