Barcelona Star in Hot Water After Attacking 70-Year-Old Journalist on a Plane

 

Barcelona’s Arda Turan allegedly assaulted a sports journalist both verbally and physically, whilst flying with the Turkey national team to Italy’s Trieste late on Monday.
As reported by ​Hurriyet Daily News, the 30-year-old was apparently unhappy with Bilal Mese’s presence on the plane after he published stories during Euro 2016 about discontent within the team over participation bonuses.

At the time, the team was reportedly in a troubled state, and did not qualify for from their group after losing two of their three games.

Turan marched over to Mese to vent his frustrations at his involvement. He allegedly said: “Tell me Bilal Mese, were you there? Were you with us when you wrote about the bonuses issue? Who did I ask for money from? Who did ask I for bonuses from? Talk. Come on. Who made you write those reports?
“What kind of a country is this? They allow you onto this plane. F*** those who allowed you onto this plane. You thought I was like the others. Who did I beg for money from? You son of a b****. I’d quit football before allowing anyone to say anything against my honour, my family.”
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The report then claims that Turan actually throttled Mese, who has been in journalism for 40 years, and went to hit him before being restrained by Burak Yilmaz and Caner Erkin.
Turkey boss Faith Terim was sitting further up the plane, but apparently did nothing to stop the altercation.
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Turan later took to Instagram to comment on the incident and said: “Maybe not right, but at least honest, honorable, esteemed behavior … Did I get an answer? No … [He] filled up the pages for months, but in front of me he had no more than two words.”