Turkey football legend, Hakan Sukur, who played as a striker for Inter Milan, Torino, Blackburn, and Galatasaray has revealed he is now driving for Uber in the United States after he was exiled from Turkey.
The 48-year-old won a total of 14 major titles, netted 383 goals throughout his club career as well as the fastest ever in a World Cup, in 2002. But his life took a dramatic turn after retirement, as he entered politics and was elected as an Istanbul MP for the Justice and Development Party.
He later resigned from the party in December 2013, to serve as an independent after he had a bitter falling out with President of Turkey Recep Erdogan.
Sukur is wanted for arrest in Turkey since August 2016 for being a member of the Gülen movement and lives in exile in the United States.
Speaking in a recent interview with German publication Welt am Sonntag, Sukur revealed things became hard for him after President Erdogan accused him of participating in a failed coup.
‘I have nothing left, Erdogan took everything: my right to liberty, freedom of expression and right to work,’ said Sukur.
‘Nobody seems able to explain what my role in this coup was supposed to be. I never did anything illegal, I am not a traitor or a terrorist.
‘I might be an enemy [of] this government, but not the state or the Turkish nation. I love my country. After the split with Erdogan, I started to receive threats. My wife’s shop was attacked, my children were harassed, my father put in prison and all my assets confiscated.
‘So I moved to the United States, initially running a cafe in California, but strange people kept coming into the bar. Now I drive for Uber and I sell books.’