Turkey's greatest footballer now lives in exile in US, runs a bakery as a means of livelihood

macfranc007 March 10, 2018 IFTTT, Latest Sport News | Today on Naija.ng Ibitoye Shittu

Born on September 1, 1971, Hakan Sukur is a Turkish retired footballer who played as a striker and spent the majority of his professional career with Galatasaray.

The 46-year-old who retired in 2008 represented the club in three different spells and winning a total of 14 major titles for the Turkish club.

But presently, the player who was adored during his active playing time cannot enter his own country after he was accused of insulting President Erdogan.

According to the report by UK Sun, the fear of him being sentenced to death or life in prison masterminded his decision to have left his own country of Turkey.

He is now currently living in California, America where he runs a bakery.

Hakan Sukur runs a popular bakery called Tuts, where the house specials are dishes like Turkish sausage and eggs, and Greek-style pancakes.

When Hakan Sukur retired from football in 2008, he decided to join politics, and was elected as an Istanbul MP for the Justice Development Party, a conservative political group that has ruled over Turkey since 2002.

Turkey's most famous footballer Hakan Sukur now sells pastries and muffins (photo: Tuts)

Sukur aligned himself with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as maintained a friendship with cleric Fethullah Gulen.

His trouble began in the year 2013 when an alliance between Erdogan and Gulen who was keen for Turkey to become an Islamic state was destroyed when a government corruption scandal erupted.

The President blamed Gulen for the disruption, and given Hakan was seen as a disciple of the Gulen movement.

That same year, the government closed all schools run by Gulenists and Hakan resigned from the governing party in protest to run as an independent.

In 2016, Hakan Sukur was charged with insulting Presideny Erdogan on Twitter in which a warrant was later issued for him to be arrested.

Inside Hakan Sukur's cafe in California near the famous Stanford University (photo: Tuts)

He escaped the arrest and flew to America, but his father was said to be arrested at a mosque in Adapazar and he was charged with financial coup support.

Hakan's father reportedly died last year in prison after battling cancer.

And since then, Hakan Sukur has been in America and lives in a £3 million home in California where he has three luxury cars.

Hakan Sukur parks his convertible Volkswagen outside his bakery in California (photo: Tuts)

Meanwhile, Hakan scored 295 goals in three spells with the Turkish giants, played Premier League football with Blackburn for a season and had a spell in Serie A for Torino.

Till today, Hakan Sukur is still the best striker Turkey have ever produced scoring 51 goals for the Turkish national team.

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