The achievement for the Diyarbakir-based team comes after a stellar season when they won 24 of 35 matches played, the last of which was a 1-0 away victory over Manisa-based Somaspor. Celebrations erupted in Diyarbakir and Manisa soon after the whistle was blown.
“I am very happy that we were able to get promoted to the First League. We have been fighting for this for 11 years, and I am very happy to see the team in the First League,” an excited supporter told Rudaw’s Abdulsalam Akinci in Diyarbakir.
Amedspor has been competing in the third tier of Turkish football since the 2013/2014 season. The team is scheduled to host Menemen FK in their last match of the season on Saturday, with thousands of fans expected to attend and celebrate the monumental achievement.
Amedspor has been the subject of several controversies in Turkey in the past few years after it changed its name to reflect the Kurdish name, Amed, of its home city of Diyarbakir.
In a speech to his supporters in Bursa in May 2023, Umit Ozdag, leader of the ultranationalist Victory Party, said that they will not allow a team by the name of Amedspor to reach the top divisions of Turkish football.
"I promise you. There will not be a team called Amedspor in the leagues in Turkey. Diyarbakirspor will take its place in the league, but we will not allow Amedspor,” said Ozdag at the time.
Amedspor fans taunted Ozdag after the team’s victory on Sunday.
“I will say it shortly. Umit Ozdag used to say there is no Amedspor, but look around you, there are millions now saying that there is Amedspor and there will always be Amedspor,” a passionate fan told Rudaw.
The team often faces nationalist and anti-Kurdish chants during their away games, sometimes leading to violence.
At least seven people were arrested over physical altercations and anti-Kurdish banners that were raised during a match between Bursaspor and Amedspor in March 2023.
Videos on social media showed Bursaspor fans throwing knives, bullets, and water bottles onto the pitch while chanting racist slogans against Kurds and raising banners depicting Turkish paramilitary figures accused of killing Kurds in Diyarbakir in the 1990s. Amedspor players were also physically attacked by the opposing team’s staff on and off the pitch.
In September 2022, five people were arrested for raising the Kurdistan flag during an Amedspor game, though they were later released.
The Turkish government often associates Kurdish symbols like the Kurdistan flag with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), slapping terror charges on those waving it.