The Passion: Football and the Story of Modern Turkey

In 1981 a young semi-professional footballer - known as ‘Imam Beckenbauer' for his piety and his dominant style of play - has his career cut short after a confrontation with Turkey's military junta. His name was Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and three decades later he is Turkey's most powerful ruler since Ataturk....'
Turkey is a nation obsessed with football. From the flares which cover the stadium with multi-coloured smoke and often bring play to a halt, to the ‘conductors' - ultras who lead the ‘...