AFP, Istanbul :
Istanbul prosecutors have opened an investigation after Turkish football star Arda Turan, currently on Barcelona’s books, was reportedly involved in a fight with a Turkish pop star in which he broke the singer’s nose.
Turan, who is this season playing for Istanbul side Basaksehir while on loan from Barcelona, was summoned to give a statement to Istanbul police over the fight with singer Berkay Sahin, state-run news agency Anadolu reported.
The Hurriyet daily said he was released after giving a statement to police in questioning that lasted for three hours.
Turkish media said that Turan became involved in the fight earlier this week with Sahin outside a nightclub in Istanbul that ended with the singer’s nose broken.
In a bizarre sequence of events, Turan then went to the hospital where the singer was being treated clutching a gun and begging to be shot and forgiven, the Haberturk daily said.
The attacking midfielder has for years been Turkey’s best known footballer and is a supporter of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But he has become notorious for poor behaviour both on and off the field.
He was banned for a record 16 games by the Turkish football authorities in May after he shoved and verbally abused a referee in a game for Basaksehir.
Turan had joined Basaksehir last season on loan from Barcelona, where he had largely endured an unhappy spell on the bench after joining from Atletico Madrid.
Erdogan attended Turan’s wedding when the footballer married Aslihan Dogan in March last year. He won 100 caps for Turkey but looks unlikely to return to international duty in a new-look side.
