In an extremely short period of time, the Turkish Ice Hockey Federation (TIHF) has gone from having no discernable policies on anti-doping, competition manipulation, abuse and harassment, or ethics to having and Integrity program that can serve as a model for Member National Associations of comparable size.
“We started our programs right after the IIHF Integrity Workshop in Prague in November 2022,” said TIHF Integrity Officer Aklan Kilinc, referring to the weekend where the MNA Integrity Officer Program was introduced. As the Turkish representative at the Workshop, Kilinc eagerly took in all the information.
The work ahead of him was daunting. The 33-year-old has experience as a hockey player, coach and on-ice official, and has worked in the TIHF since 2016 in various capacities. But tackling this kind of program was unlike anything he’d ever done before.
“At first, I thought that I couldn’t do it on my own,” said Kilinc. “I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction I would get from stakeholders. I felt like I’d be paddling upstream.”
However, he added: “Once I started working on Integrity, I realized how important it was to inform all ice hockey stakeholders in my country about these issues, and knowing that I had all the essential support from my federation made things better.”
Kilinc went to work right away.
“First of all, I went to meet with our National Anti-Doping Committee in Ankara,” he described. “In the meeting, we talked about how they could help us and then we decided to start with online education.”
That season, the Turkish Ice Hockey Federation made it a mandatory requirement for all players and coaches in the Men’s and Women’s Super League playoffs to attend the online anti-doping seminar. During some of the playoff games an anti-doping stand was opened to raise awareness. Gifts were distributed, green pucks – emblematic of the IIHF’s anti-doping campaign – were used in the pre-game warm-ups, and the event was shared on social media.
Drawing inspiration from the websites of the IIHF, larger MNAs and the U.S. Center for Safe Sport, the TIHF’s website was updated to include an Integrity page, a booklet was sent to all teams and posters were displayed in all rinks. The posters include a QR code that links to the website’s reporting page.
This past season, Integrity education was added to the curriculum of the Level II coach’s course, and just last week, Kilinc met with Türkiye’s U18 men’s national team to discuss the program, which was received positively.
“In the Integrity education I did for our U18 national team last Wednesday, the players were very interested,” he said. “I had more questions than I expected, mostly in the competition manipulation and betting section.
“I’ve had all the necessary support from people within the federation as well,” Kilinc continued. “We have translated USA Hockey’s Safe Sport Handbook into Turkish and are working with our lawyer to adapt it to our country.”
“It is truly valuable to have someone of Alkan's calibre on board – someone who is goal-oriented, passionate, and diligent,” said IIHF Integrity Officer Naomi Bloetjes. “Witnessing the collective efforts of all MNA members working collaboratively to enhance the inclusivity and safety of ice hockey is exceptionally gratifying. Only through the unwavering dedication and hard work of each individual involved can we aspire to achieve our utmost excellence.”
“The IIHF is always supporting and with us,” said Kilinc. “Throughout this whole period, we’ve had online and in-person meetings and exchanged information about where we were in the whole process.”
While pleased with the progress so far, Kilinc knows there’s lots more work to be done. While he’s presented the Integrity program to stakeholders with Türkiye’s national teams, he wants to include clubs in the near future.
“I want to provide relevant education to all of them. I will even try to include parents in this program,” he said.
“It’s still a long process to ask a lot of coaches, players, managers, and officials to focus on an unfamiliar topic and try to get a result, but it all feels more achievable than it did a year and a half ago.”
Since he began in the autumn of 2022, Kilinc has spent a lot of time researching programs and information available online from other countries. That led him to a startling realization.
“There is almost no study or legislation on harassment and abuse in Turkish sports,” Kilinc stated. “This is a huge deficiency for our country and our sport. Even the number of academic articles on this matter is so limited that it is almost non-existent.”
That discovery has only served to inspire Kilinc to continue his work beyond ice hockey.
“After a while, I wanted to work on this issue academically and as of September 2023, I have been studying for a master’s degree at Atatürk University Graduate School Of Winter Sports and Sport Sciences in Erzurum,” said Kilinc, who next year plans to carry out a study on the theme of “Harassment and Abuse in Turkish Ice Hockey” as his master’s thesis.
“This process continues to be an inspirational path for my own life.”
“We started our programs right after the IIHF Integrity Workshop in Prague in November 2022,” said TIHF Integrity Officer Aklan Kilinc, referring to the weekend where the MNA Integrity Officer Program was introduced. As the Turkish representative at the Workshop, Kilinc eagerly took in all the information.
The work ahead of him was daunting. The 33-year-old has experience as a hockey player, coach and on-ice official, and has worked in the TIHF since 2016 in various capacities. But tackling this kind of program was unlike anything he’d ever done before.
“At first, I thought that I couldn’t do it on my own,” said Kilinc. “I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction I would get from stakeholders. I felt like I’d be paddling upstream.”
However, he added: “Once I started working on Integrity, I realized how important it was to inform all ice hockey stakeholders in my country about these issues, and knowing that I had all the essential support from my federation made things better.”
Kilinc went to work right away.
“First of all, I went to meet with our National Anti-Doping Committee in Ankara,” he described. “In the meeting, we talked about how they could help us and then we decided to start with online education.”
That season, the Turkish Ice Hockey Federation made it a mandatory requirement for all players and coaches in the Men’s and Women’s Super League playoffs to attend the online anti-doping seminar. During some of the playoff games an anti-doping stand was opened to raise awareness. Gifts were distributed, green pucks – emblematic of the IIHF’s anti-doping campaign – were used in the pre-game warm-ups, and the event was shared on social media.
Drawing inspiration from the websites of the IIHF, larger MNAs and the U.S. Center for Safe Sport, the TIHF’s website was updated to include an Integrity page, a booklet was sent to all teams and posters were displayed in all rinks. The posters include a QR code that links to the website’s reporting page.
This past season, Integrity education was added to the curriculum of the Level II coach’s course, and just last week, Kilinc met with Türkiye’s U18 men’s national team to discuss the program, which was received positively.
“In the Integrity education I did for our U18 national team last Wednesday, the players were very interested,” he said. “I had more questions than I expected, mostly in the competition manipulation and betting section.
“I’ve had all the necessary support from people within the federation as well,” Kilinc continued. “We have translated USA Hockey’s Safe Sport Handbook into Turkish and are working with our lawyer to adapt it to our country.”
“It is truly valuable to have someone of Alkan's calibre on board – someone who is goal-oriented, passionate, and diligent,” said IIHF Integrity Officer Naomi Bloetjes. “Witnessing the collective efforts of all MNA members working collaboratively to enhance the inclusivity and safety of ice hockey is exceptionally gratifying. Only through the unwavering dedication and hard work of each individual involved can we aspire to achieve our utmost excellence.”
“The IIHF is always supporting and with us,” said Kilinc. “Throughout this whole period, we’ve had online and in-person meetings and exchanged information about where we were in the whole process.”
While pleased with the progress so far, Kilinc knows there’s lots more work to be done. While he’s presented the Integrity program to stakeholders with Türkiye’s national teams, he wants to include clubs in the near future.
“I want to provide relevant education to all of them. I will even try to include parents in this program,” he said.
“It’s still a long process to ask a lot of coaches, players, managers, and officials to focus on an unfamiliar topic and try to get a result, but it all feels more achievable than it did a year and a half ago.”
Since he began in the autumn of 2022, Kilinc has spent a lot of time researching programs and information available online from other countries. That led him to a startling realization.
“There is almost no study or legislation on harassment and abuse in Turkish sports,” Kilinc stated. “This is a huge deficiency for our country and our sport. Even the number of academic articles on this matter is so limited that it is almost non-existent.”
That discovery has only served to inspire Kilinc to continue his work beyond ice hockey.
“After a while, I wanted to work on this issue academically and as of September 2023, I have been studying for a master’s degree at Atatürk University Graduate School Of Winter Sports and Sport Sciences in Erzurum,” said Kilinc, who next year plans to carry out a study on the theme of “Harassment and Abuse in Turkish Ice Hockey” as his master’s thesis.
“This process continues to be an inspirational path for my own life.”