Turkish football club Fenerbahce announced on Friday that legal proceedings had been initiated against their rivals Galatasaray, citing an alleged "attack" on coach Jose Mourinho's "personal rights".
Following Monday's Istanbul derby, Galatasaray issued a statement claiming Mourinho had made racist remarks, specifically highlighting his description of the opposition bench as "jumping around like monkeys," which they characterised as "unequivocally inhumane rhetoric."
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. The accusations were firmly denied by Fenerbahce, who maintained that the remarks were "deliberately taken entirely out of context and distorted in a misleading manner."
Fenerbahce escalated the matter on Friday by announcing their pursuit of legal action, seeking approximately $52,000 in compensation for damages.
"We would like to announce to the public that a lawsuit for moral damages of 1 million 907 thousand Turkish liras has been filed against Galatasaray Sports Club by Fenerbahçe Sports Club lawyers due to the attack on the personal rights of our Technical Director Jose Mourinho," it said in a statement.
Galatasaray have alleged that Mourinho "persistently issued derogatory statements directed towards the Turkish people". The club stated they would commence criminal proceedings regarding what they characterised as "racist statements" made by the Portuguese manager.
On Thursday, the Turkish Football Federation had imposed sanctions on Mourinho, including a four-match suspension and a monetary penalty of 1.6 million Turkish lira ($44,000), following his remarks about Turkish officials after the Galatasaray fixture.
During his post-match press conference, Mourinho expressed satisfaction with the appointment of a foreign official - Slovenian Slavko Vincic - for the match, and commended the referee's excellent performance.
After the match, Mourinho mentioned that he visited the referee to express gratitude. Upon encountering the Turkish fourth official, Mourinho stated: "If you are the referee ... would be a disaster."