Interviewer: Gülkız Tülay, who has held the presidency for twelve years, announced in an article on the official website of the Turkish Chess Federation at the beginning of July, 2024 that it is time for a change, and she would be stepping down with the hope of meeting new stories. You worked directly under her as the national teams manager for a period. Could you share your thoughts on this development and process?
DrKyr: Of course, with pleasure. In the first week after accepting the offer to start as the national teams manager from her and the vice president at the beginning of 2014 in Ankara, I had a meeting with "the former president’s inside men" where they told me, "they come and go with elections, we will teach them how to manage." I couldn't make much sense of it and chose to focus on my work and new position instead of paying attention to these statements. All elections show that the presidents they referred to neither come nor go with elections. Thus, the inside men are wrong once again.
Interviewer: Who were these inside men, and why were they wrong? Could you elaborate a bit more?
DrKyr: When the former president Ali Nihat Yazıcı could not agree with the then sports minister and was not asked to run again, he nominated Gülkız Tülay, whom he thought he could manage from outside, and had her elected. Many of the federation’s staff remained the same. Among them were the Secretary General and the Sports Director (an attentive reader can find out who they are if they want; I don’t want to name them) who said the above statement to me. I hadn’t realized at that time that they were the names circulating in the rumors about "the former president's inside men" (it was first brought up by the name in the "Mojo Jojo" blog – see https://satrancvehukuk.com/). When I saw that the Secretary General was referred to the disciplinary committee and dismissed after I left the position and that he was Ali Nihat Yazıcı’s lawyer, and the Sports Director participated in the establishment of a parallel federation (Turkish Chess Clubs Federation) and took part as a candidate in the opposition wing in the 2022 elections, everything fell into place.
Interviewer: So, you didn't realize it while you were working?
DrKyr: Yes, I didn’t realize it, or I thought what was happening was due to the bureaucratic and political structure of the federation. These events could even lead to mobbing.
Interviewer: Can you give an example?
DrKyr: Before I started, the Sports Director gave a long speech about the new definition of the position in front of the president and the vice president. The job of the national teams manager was supposed to be solely related to the development of the national teams and a direct position.
Interviewer: Wasn’t it so?
DrKyr: Absolutely not. On the first day I started, the Sports Director told me that there was no such position in the regulations, my title and job description would remain as the National Teams Officer and handed me the relevant documents. Thus, he showed from the start that he was playing a double game.
Interviewer: Why do you think he acted this way?
DrKyr: I believe there were multiple reasons. First, the person he suggested for my position was not accepted by the president and vice president (there were rumors that this person was someone he had a romantic relationship with).
Interviewer: Other reasons?
DrKyr: Secondly, he wanted me to fail, so he could tell the president and vice president that they made a wrong choice.
Interviewer: Was it a wrong choice?
DrKyr: On the contrary, I fixed the mess I inherited without a proper handover, put things in order, and handed over a guideline on how the necessary tasks should be done when I left. At that time, they couldn’t find a candidate with my qualifications and who worked as professionally as I did.
Interviewer: Other reasons?
DrKyr: Lastly, he didn’t know which side I was on.
Interviewer: What other difficulties did you face?
DrKyr: This position, namely the national teams manager, should have been a comprehensive one requiring the responsibility of a created unit. The person who was said to work with me at that time was definitely not in cooperation with me. She probably didn’t accept the new job description given to her. Later, when I handed over the position, the fact that two personnel came to Istanbul and the organizational structure changed in the following years proves my point.
Interviewer: You mentioned you have an anecdote related to these difficulties.
DrKyr: Yes, thank you for reminding me. At that time, there was a sports organization called the Rumi Games held in Konya. It was held annually with the participation of Romania, Iran, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, and Turkey in Taekwondo, Wrestling, Chess and other branches. As the national teams manager, I was supposed to deal only with the selection and management of the Turkish Chess National Team, but I was also responsible for the chess tournament directorate from A to Z, which was the old national teams officer’s duty. There was a problem with the invitation of foreign teams; while all countries responded to the correspondence on time and confirmed their participation, there was no response from Azerbaijan. So, to avoid holding the organization with a missing country, I activated the cooperation with Poland during the former president’s term and invited the Polish team. The organization was much more colorful and successful with Poland’s participation.
Interviewer: I didn’t fully understand the difficulty you faced. You fulfilled your responsibility.
DrKyr: The Sports Director approved my suggestion to activate the protocol with Poland and invite them with a fake smile, saying, "My Erdem Hodja, you thought very well." However, just a week before the start of the organization and everything had been arranged, the Sports Director handed me his personal phone and said the President of the Azerbaijan Federation was on the line and wanted to speak with me. The President of the Azerbaijan Federation threatened me in a stern tone (the president at that time was Sideifzade) saying that if their country was not invited, I would regret it. I reminded him that we are one nation but two states and I politely told him that I couldn’t do that, everything was arranged, and a fifth country couldn’t be invited to the organization anymore and otherwise would be against "Türk Əxlaqı".
Interviewer: What was the Sports Director’s comment on this?
DrKyr: He told me that Azerbaijan handled things not through correspondence but through Sideifzade’s phone calls. If he had this information and the president’s personal number, why didn’t he tell me in time and allowed the approval of the Poland protocol, trying to mask it again with a fake smile? His aim was clear: for me to fail and find myself in a difficult situation. I don’t even want to mention the issue of arranging flight tickets beforehand.
Interviewer: What do you mean?
DrKyr: When I was selected for the Army Chess National Team, representing the Turkish Armed Forces and Turkey at the NATO Chess Tournament held in Poland in 2005, I had the opportunity to meet the Polish Chief of General Staff during the closing reception. The Polish plane, which included the Polish Chief of General Staff (God rest his soul), suspiciously crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk in 2010 over Ukraine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smolensk_air_disaster). Despite the Russo-Ukrainian war starting in 2014 at that time, the company that went out to bid for the Polish team’s tickets sent tickets with a Ukraine transfer, and of course, the Polish team decided not to come.
Interviewer: You said the Polish team came?
DrKyr: They did, but with a second team and new direct flights. This was made possible thanks to the Provincial Sports Directorate, the Polish Chess Federation, and my former teammate from the Turkish Airlines Chess Club, GM Heberla, and through dozens of correspondences and phone calls I made. The background of what I experienced is not known by many people.
Interviewer: The truth has a bad habit of eventually coming out.
DrKyr: The truth of this saying is now revealed with the understanding that the presidents referred to as "they" by "the inside men" neither come nor go with elections. Just as Ali Nihat Yazıcı left not because he wasn’t elected but because he didn’t/couldn’t run again, and Gülkız Tülay also leaves not because she wasn’t elected but because she wouldn’t/couldn’t run for the presidency, "they" are brought in by being appointed and leave without being involved in the election, but "the insiders" always remain.
Interviewer: Thank you for this wonderful interview on behalf of my team and myself.
DrKyr: Thank you. I hope everything turns out well for chess and the Turkish Chess community.
DrKyr.
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