Turkish Chess Fed vs GM Suat Atalik: ACP Open Letter To Fide and Chess Community

Chess blog for latest chess news and chess trivia (c) Alexandra Kosteniuk, 2012

Hi everyone,

Open letter to FIDE and the chess community

The ACP Board recently received a letter from GM Suat Atalik, from Turkey, requesting a reaction concerning his recent case with the Turkish Chess Federation (“TCF”) and the Greek Chess Federation (“GCF”)

The Facts
Mr. Atalik informed us that his national chess federation, the TCF, has inflicted him a 15-month ban from national and international events following his infringement of applicable Turkish regulations. Reportedly, the reason behind the ban was Mr. Atalik’s denial to ask for permission to play abroad and his refusal to sign an undertaking. The TCF’s decision was supported by the Turkish Judiciary. 

Mr. Atalik also reported that, upon request of the TCF based solely on its internal ruling, the GCF contacted tournament organizers in Greece asking them to deny the participation of Mr. Atalik in their events.

ACP’s Understanding of the Case
It is the understanding of the ACP Board that this is a very sensitive case that demands the utmost attention by the whole chess community, especially FIDE, as it may become a dangerous precedent. We are already witnessing a vicious attempt at introducing a new rule, that aims at enabling an automatic ban of a player from all FIDE events based on the decision of his national chess federation (the proposal is included into the Agenda of the FIDE Congress in Istanbul).

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