Efkan Bekiroglu (27) played a total of 58 games in the third division for the Munich Lions.
For the 2020/21 season, the native of Dachau switched to the first Turkish league.
Munich – In an interview he tells how he is doing there and how he sees the development of TSV 1860.
Efkan, how is life as a professional in Turkey?
Life here is actually nice.
Mainly because Alanya is more of a holiday area.
I live only 200 meters from the beach, 80 percent of the time we have nice weather and the people are very relaxed.
It's a mix of international, because of tourism, and still homely, because I've made a lot of friends here.
The club is also very well organized.
On top of that, you can also play against awesome opponents every week, against big names, which of course makes things even better.
Efkan Bekiroglu: From the 3rd division to the Galatasaray Stadium
In your free time: Would you rather walk along the coast of Alanya or through the pedestrian zone in Munich?
That's a difficult question because my family and friends are in Munich.
If I had the choice to walk around with them at Marienplatz, I'd take that, but that doesn't mean it's not nice here.
Here you have other things that you can enjoy.
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Bekiroglu with his team.
After a rather difficult debut season, you were able to assert yourself more and more as a regular in attacking midfield. What makes you so important to the team at the moment?
The change from the third division to the Süper Lig was not easy.
The Süper Lig is much more intense, much more physical and technically much stronger.
I would say that many clubs could also compete in the Bundesliga.
It's like a mix of the lower half of the Bundesliga and the upper half of the second division.
In addition, in the first year I had blatant competition in the midfield.
But then the change of coach brought new players and I was able to assert myself.
What makes me important: I think it takes experience above all.
I know the league and would say that I'm relatively disciplined and implement what the coach wants.
How are the Turkish fans? Are they really as crazy as people say?
Yes absolutely.
We've played at Besiktas Stadium, Galatasaray Stadium and Fener Stadium and it's really incredible.
Above all, when we played 2-2 in the Gala Stadium, it was also a day of celebration here in Turkey.
That's why there was an extra choreo and that was really impressive.
I don't even know what to say about that.
If 40,000 to 50,000 people are shouting, you can't hear anything, not even the person next to you.
Efkan Bekiroglu: "It really hurts me what happened, I have to be honest"
Her family lives in Karlsfeld. They live in Alanya. Where do you feel at home?
(Laughs) That's a good question.
Currently I already feel at home in Alanya because this is my third year here and I have also bought an apartment here.
But in football that can always change relatively quickly.
My family is in Munich, my girlfriend lives and studies in Karlsruhe, we have been in a long-distance relationship for about three years now.
So you're kind of on your phone all the time.
But my family comes to visit me from time to time and during international breaks or when we're free, I always try to fly to Germany.
Do you still follow the games of the Munich Lions, your former club?
Yes, absolutely, almost every game.
And how do you see the current situation at 1860?
I'll speak completely as a fan: it really hurts me what happened there, I have to be honest.
I also felt sorry for what happened to Michael Köllner.
I personally didn't think that was right.
But that's none of my business either.
It just hurts when I see the team almost suffering after such a good start.
This is how Efkan Bekiroglu experienced the devastating earthquake
Are you still in contact with one or the other from your time in Munich?
Yes, as has often been said, Tim (Rieder) is one of my best friends.
Otherwise, I visited them when they were here in the training camp.
I met Köllner and talked to Günther Gorenzel for a relatively long time.
I also have very good contact with Anthony (Power).
He's always there for me when I need someone to talk to.
I also meet Fatih Aslan from time to time in Munich.
But you can tell from the players that it's a different generation now.
I don't even know that many anymore.
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Bekiroglu with girlfriend Melisa at ex-colleague Tim Rieder's wedding.
A few weeks ago there was a devastating earthquake in south-east Turkey. Were you affected by this yourself?
No, I wasn't affected.
Here it "only" wobbled.
In Germany that sounds strange now, but here it happens more often.
Alanya is not an earthquake area, but if you live a bit higher you will notice it.
In a magnitude six or seven earthquake, it shakes for 30 seconds.
At first it was strange for me because we are not used to it in Germany.
But luckily nothing else happened here.
There are simply no words for what was going on over there.
Unfortunately, with Christian Atsu, a professional from the Süper Lig also died. What did that do to you?
Reality completely catches up with you.
I mean, if you go back to the beginning of the story, the boy scored the winning goal a couple of hours before and if he hadn't played I think he would have flown over to his house that night.
This is really unbelievable.
What it does to me: I couldn't have played at all that weekend, nor the week after.
That's why we were all really happy that we had a 3-4 week break to get away for a bit.
Nevertheless, one is brought back to reality.
At that time it was all about how to help people, be it donations in kind or donations of money.
Friends also drove over here by car.
Efkan Bekiroglu does not rule out 1860 return
What are your personal goals for the next few years? Where do you want to go in your career?
My goal is clear: Back to Europe, if possible to Germany.
I've been here for three years now and still have one year option.
But my goal is clearly the Bundesliga.
I have absolutely no doubts that I'm an experienced player.
Also because my girlfriend lives there, it would be a dream for me to come back and play football in Germany again.
Could you also imagine playing for the lions again one day?
Gladly.
Sixty, as I've said many times before, is a real club of the heart.
We have a group with our friends, where it often goes over sixty and Munich.
I really like the club, but it's not where it belongs at the moment.
You never know, but maybe someday, why not?
Interview: Lucas Rauscher
