The CEO of the Turkish Basketball Federation, Omer Onan, spoke with the media and addressed the situation with Omer Yurtseven, who refused to join the national team for September’s World Cup Qualifiers.
Cedi Osman, Furkan Korkmaz and Ersan Ilyasova are expected to play for Turkey in September’s games, however Yurtseven hasn’t responded to the call.
The 20-year-old center spent the past three seasons with North Carolina State, however he decided to join Georgetown and will miss the next season in the NCAA.
“We sent the call to Omer Faruk Yurtseven. But he did not respond. We feel sorry because we served the NT for years as players. He should remember this: He must care for the country he was born and grew up. He should take Cedi, Furkan and federation president Hedo Turkoglu as examples,” Onan said.
The CEO also explained that if Yurtseven keeps refusing to join the national team, he will face the consequences:
“We told him to come here for the opening day. If there was an issue with his university, he would go back in the shortest notice. We do not force anyone to play in the national team if the conditions are challenging or disruptive. We sent him his ticket. We called him and he didn’t come.
It’s now a matter of the federation’s disciplinary committee. He might get punished. Players grow up with their national teams. Hedo, Ginobili, the Gasol Brothers. They all played in their national teams with pride despite being star players in the NBA. If I were him I would take a plane tomorrow and be here,” Onan stated.
