The top former footballer and ex-Fenerbahce and Besiktas star Sezer Ozturk is standing trial and facing 32 years in prison for shooting a dad-of-two dead during a road rage incident in Istanbul last year.

He stands accused of killing Halil Ibrahim Scholten with an unlicensed firearm in Sancaktepe, which is a district in the suburbs of Turkey’s largest city Istanbul, on 19th September 2021.

The 36-year-old footballer reportedly told the court it was a tragedy, as “the deceased also had two children”, but he added “I did not start it”.

He also reportedly said that “as a former national football player, I want to express my sadness at being here”.

Ozturk was returning home to the rental house he and his family were staying at after a day out at the zoo with his friend Omer Genc. He was with his wife and three children, as well as their nanny, in one car, and his friend was in another car with his two children and his wife.

He said that there were two or three cars blocking the road just 100 metres (328 feet) from the house, so he asked the other drivers to move their cars out of the way so that he could get through.

He said that he was reportedly told to “wait”, but after 10 minutes, he said that he asked them to move their cars again, adding that on this occasion, he was insulted.

He said: “Because I had my family with me, I stayed calm, but my one-and-a-half-year-old child was crying in the car, I had to go home. There was no other way to go.

“And then finally someone stuck his head in the window on my wife’s side of the car and cursed.”

The German-born Turkish footballer said: “We do not use foul language when there are women and children around. We live for our honour. I took his insults in my stride because I realised that they were drunk. I got out of the car when I realised that one of them opened the back door.

“As soon as I got out, someone punched me, they started hitting me with the wheel wrench. Someone threw a chair at me. I learned that the deceased also had two children, but I did not initiate this, I am not responsible for it.”

The footballer said that he was hit multiple times and that his friend Genc then got out of his own car after witnessing this and opened fire with a gun, shooting two or three times in the air.

He added: “There were 15 to 20 drunk people in front of us and we were fighting with our spouses against them.”

He said that the other group then dispersed, but a person driving a white pickup truck then drove at him. He said that he tried to avoid the vehicle but his foot was crushed.

They then returned home after the group had dispersed and, leaving his family at home, Ozturk claims that he and his friend Genc then set off for the hospital.

But he claims that they were blocked by a group of about 20 people, including the victim, who were armed with sharp objects and sticks.

He said that when he got out of the vehicle, he went towards the victim, which is when his friend Genc allegedly said: “Brother, there is a gun.”

He then opened fire without aiming, he claims.

He said that he then got back into his car after he and his friend fired approximately 10 to 12 shots in the air. He said that one of these shots hit Scholten, adding that he was sorry for what had happened.

Genc, who is a co-defendant, stated that a large group had attacked them, adding that he thought that they were going to kill him. He also expressed his regret for how the events unfolded.

Scholten was just 25 years old when he lost his life in the incident. His partner, who has been named as Dilek Ozdemir, stated that she did not see the incident. But she said: “My child cries every night for his father. He should receive the heaviest punishment.”

The mother of the deceased, who has not been named, but who was present for the proceedings, reportedly said: “What am I going to complain about? I am not complaining. I refer it all to God.”

Both defendants requested to be released, but the court decided to keep them detained.

The court also decided to bring in witnesses who had been summoned but who had not appeared, ordering that they should be made to appear before the court by force.

The court also rejected the footballers lawyer’s request for further investigations to be made at the crime scene.

The hearing was then adjourned.

The statement by the defendants do not appear to match the indictment prepared by the Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which states that both defendants argued with the victim before running up behind him with a gun and aiming at him before firing a total of six shots.

Ozturk stands accused of ‘deliberately killing under unjust provocation’, ‘deliberately wounding with a gun under unjust provocation’, ‘damaging property under unjust provocation’, ‘repeatedly threatening with a gun’, and ‘possession of an unlicensed weapon’.

The Public Prosecutor has demanded that the footballer be jailed for 32 years and nine months, requesting that his friend and co-defendant Genc be jailed for 28 years and one month.