Galatasaray and Turkey Legend Hakan Sukur has opened up In a shocking revelation in his life after football. The unfortunate journey has now resulted in him becoming a driver an Uber in the United States to make a daily living.
The former striker, who also enjoyed spells for Inter Milan and Blackburn Rovers, joined politics after retiring from football. What the former striker didn’t know was a falling out with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan would leave him with nothing as he seek for asylum in North America.
Sukur, scored 51 goals in 112 appearances for his country, and joined Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2011. He later decided to quit roughly two years after due to a reported conflict of opinions and irreconcilable differences.
The former footballer recently opened up in a recent interview with German publication Welt am Sonntag. Sukur, emotionally explained how difficult things have been for him since Being accused of participating in a failed coup against now president Erdogan.
“I have nothing left, Erdogan took everything: my right to liberty, freedom of expression and right to work,” Sukur is quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
“Nobody seems able to explain what my role in this coup was supposed to be. I never did anything illegal, I am not a traitor or a terrorist. I might be an enemy [of] this government, but not the state or the Turkish nation. I love my country.”
“After the split with Erdogan, I started to receive threats. My wife’s shop was attacked, my children were harassed, my father put in prison and all my assets confiscated. So I moved to the United States, initially running a cafe in California, but strange people kept coming into the bar. Now I drive for Uber and I sell books.”
Football fans in Turkey still show love to Sukur and oftentefer to him as the football hero in Turkey. He received such an accolade after scoring crucial goals for the national team and starting for them at the 2002 World Cup. He spearheaded Turkey’s attackand guided them to a third place finish at the tournament in Japan and South Korea,m. Sukur scored against South Korea in the third place playoff as Senol Gunes’ side defeated the hosts 3-2.
