The current name of the Fenerbahçe stadium, Şükrü Saraçoğlu, should be changed and the stadium should be named "FENERBAHÇE ATATÜRK STADI"

We sincerely congratulate the Fenerbahçe management for taking the decision to change the name of Fenerbahçe stadium from Şükrü Saraçoğlu to "Fenerbahçe Atatürk Stadium". I find this decision of the Fenerbahçe management and the name change to be appropriate and very valuable.

As it is known, the naming of a second stadium in Istanbul with the name Atatürk, when there is already the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, has been criticised for various reasons. I felt the need to forward the letter I wrote in 2006 to Mr. Togay Bayatlı, then President of the Turkish National Olympic Committee, on this issue to the Fenerbahçe executives with a preliminary note. The text of the said preliminary note, which I sent on 14 September 2023, is given below:

"We sincerely and wholeheartedly congratulate our Chairman Ali Koç and the members of the Board of Directors who took the decision to change the name of Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saraçoğlu Stadium to "Fenerbahçe Atatürk Stadium".

After this very meaningful decision to give the Fenerbahçe stadium the name Atatürk, which is the most appropriate name for the stadium, it was reported in the press that two sports facilities in one city cannot have the same name and therefore the name Atatürk cannot be given to the Fenerbahçe stadium, while there is the name Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul. 

It is a coincidence that after watching the European Champion Clubs Final Match between Milan and Liverpool at the Olympic Stadium on 25 May 2005, I wrote a letter to Togay Bayatlı, then President of the Turkish National Olympic Committee, suggesting that the Olympic Stadium had a bad architecture, that the name Atatürk did not suit this stadium and that its name should be changed to "Istanbul Olympic Stadium". At that time, of course, there was no question of changing the name of Fenerbahçe Stadium. Now that this issue has come to light, it has come to my mind that I had proposed the name "Istanbul Olympic Stadium" for this stadium at that time, as if I had received news from out of the blue. The proposal I made in 2006 is still valid today. After the name of the Olympic stadium, which does not suit the name Atatürk at all because it has a very bad architecture, is changed to "Istanbul Olympic Stadium", the way will be paved for our Fenerbahçe stadium to be named after Atatürk. 

The letter I wrote in 2006, which I have kept in my archive since then, is attached for your information. If desired, the information contained in my letter can be shared with the authorities and persons requested by mentioning my name."

I am also submitting to your attention the letter dated 29 November 2006, addressed to Mr Togay Bayatlı, which was included in the information note I wrote to the Fenerbahçe management:

Dear Togay Bayatlı,                                                                     Istanbul, 29 November 2006

As the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Olympic Committee of Turkey, in your statements to the press and in your articles in the sports page of Milliyet Newspaper, you argue that Istanbul Atatürk Olympic Stadium is a very suitable facility for Istanbul to be a candidate for the 2008 Olympic Games. As it is known, the 2008 Olympics were awarded to China. For the 2012 Olympics, you again nominated this facility. However, the 2012 Olympics were also awarded to London. I watched the European Football Champion Clubs final match between Liverpool and Milan on 25 May last year at the Olympic Stadium and saw with my own eyes how bad the architecture of this stadium was. You are of course aware of the articles in the press about the bad architecture of this stadium. It is unthinkable that the International Olympic Committee, which decides in which city the Olympics will be held, would allow the Olympic Games to be held in this stadium with such a bad architecture. Let me explain how bad the architecture of this stadium is and the reasons for this as follows:  

1. The stadium is designed asymmetrically. It has two closed stands on the east and west sides and two open stands on the north and south sides. The closed part of the west stand, which is placed on two very thick main columns, and the closed part of the east stand, which is placed on 10-12 columns, present a very different appearance. Due to the fact that the north and south stands are both open and built at a lower level than the other two stands, the wind blowing from the north and south directions creates a funnel effect in the region, affecting both the spectators and the athletes on the field. The open tops of the north and south stands leave the spectators under the influence of the wind and under snow and rain in rainy weather. The Olympic stadiums in Berlin, London, Helsinki, Melburn, Rome, Tokyo, Mexico City, Munich, Montreal, Moscow, Los Angeles, Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney and Athens, where the Olympic Games were organised in previous years, all have closed stands and none of them have open stands. The last World Football Championship in Germany was played in 12 different stadiums. None of the stadiums in Berlin, Munich, Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, Hamburg, Hanover, Frankfurt, Nurnberg, Cologne, Kaiserslautern, Leipzig and Stuttgart have open stands. The only stadium in the world with the name Olympic Stadium but with two bleachers with open tops is Istanbul Olympic Stadium! (NOTE: If you pay attention, I call this stadium Istanbul Olympic Stadium, not Atatürk Olympic Stadium, because the name of our Great Leader Atatürk does not suit this poorly built stadium)

2. Unbelievably, in this stadium some of the spectators cannot see the whole pitch. I watched the Liverpool - Milan match from the upper left hand side of the west stand, Block 913, Row 81, seat 519. From where I was, the slope of the concrete cover over the stand obscured the view at the corner flag. The English spectators who had seats in those seats and could not see the corner spot got up from their seats and came to the staircase exit in the centre where they could see the whole pitch and watched the match standing. I have also given the number of the row I sat in, so that if any interested person or official wonders about the number of spectators who could not see the field and part of the racetrack at that point, they can go to the point I have described in the stands of the stadium and determine the number of spectator seats from which the entire field cannot be seen.

3. It has been reported in the press that the Istanbul Olympic Stadium was built with a capacity of 82.000 spectators. When news appeared in the press that 70,000 tickets would be sold for the Liverpool-Milan match instead of 82,000, I thought that certain distances between Milan and Liverpool fans would be left empty for security reasons. After the spectators filled the stadium, I saw that there were no gaps between the Milan and Liverpool spectators, but three or four of the lowest rows were left empty in all of the closed and open stands of the stadium. While I was wondering why all of these rows were left empty, the next day a newspaper reported that these tickets were not sold because the lowest rows in the stands of the Olympic Stadium were built almost in line with the ground of the field, and the spectators who would sit here could not easily see the movements of the athletes on the field. Of course, whether this newspaper report is true or not can be analysed by experts on the subject. 

4. The concrete cover on the west stand completely blocks the view of the spectators sitting on the upper sides of the stand to the sections behind the goal. Therefore, during athletics competitions, some of the spectators sitting in the upper rows of the west stand will not be able to see the sections of the race track behind the goal posts! Is there any other stadium in the world where the spectators in the stands cannot see the entire stadium? Can the Olympic Games be held in a stadium where some of the spectators cannot see the entire race track? Of course not! It was reported in the press that the intensive efforts of Mr Şenes Erzik, the senior executive of UEFA, were effective in the organisation of the Liverpool - Milan match at the Istanbul Olympic Stadium. The day after the match, while our press was boasting that it was a great success that the match was played in this stadium, a senior UEFA official travelling from Sabiha Gökçen Airport after the match said: "This final match should not have been played here!" and expressed his regret that it had been decided to play the final match in this stadium. In the following days, sports commentator and journalist Hıncal Uluç wrote in his newspaper column that this stadium should be completely demolished and rebuilt with a modern architecture. The Turkish Football Federation, which decides in which city and stadium the national matches will be held in Turkey, has not played a national match in this stadium until today. As a matter of fact, none of the three national matches held in Turkey after the first opening match of the Olympic Stadium has been played in this stadium. These national matches were played at Trabzon Avni Aker, Istanbul İnönü and Fenerbahçe stadiums instead of the Olympic Stadium.

As one of the pioneers of the construction of this stadium, you oppose criticism of the stadium and defend it. However, please accept the fact that the International Olympic Committee will never allow Olympic Games to be held in this stadium. In fact, the name given to this stadium is also wrong. The name of our Great Leader Atatürk, the founder of our Republic, the pioneer of all revolutions and innovations, does not suit this ugly stadium. For this reason, this stadium should not be called "ATHURK OLYMPIC STADIUM" but "ISTANBUL OLYMPIC STADIUM". 

Sincerely yours, 

Irfan Sarp

Contact: [email protected]