KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Musa Türkmen loves his Kansas City Chiefs.
For his first visit to the United States, Türkmen flew all the way from Turkey to Kansas City for one thing — to watch the Chiefs play at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.
Türkmen is working to perfect his English, but with a smile, he told KSHB 41 News how much he supports the Chiefs.
“I’m watching the Chiefs game all Monday, all Sunday,” Türkmen said. “I love red too, Chiefs is love for me.”
On Monday, Türkmen was tailgating at Arrowhead stadium while sporting his red, yellow and white with pride. He told KSHB 41 he is happy to be in Kansas City.
“I am so very excited to watch the Chiefs game,” Türkmen said.
Like many, Türkmen joined a Facebook group during quarantine to pass time. He then met many friends, including Catherine Baskett.
“We met him off of quarantine beer chugs — we were bored like all of America was,” Baskett said. “We didn’t know what to do with ourselves during quarantine.”
Basekett said Türkmen had a positive energy that could not be beat, and this led them to becoming closer. Then, Baskett found out Türkmen was a Chiefs fan.
“We invited him to virtual cocktail hour, during that cocktail hour, he barely spoke any English,” Baskett said. “So all we got out was, 'Go Chiefs' over and over again for four hours straight.”
After talking with other group members, Baskett led the efforts to raise money and created a game plan to get Türkmen to GEHA Field.
“There was a GoFundMe that was created to get him here, that stalled. It was about a year ago it was sent to me and I said 'Let’s make it happen,'" she said.
Now, Türkmen is thankful for his new friends and says he is enjoying Kansas City.
“I am very happy now, because they are very friendly, they are very Chiefs Fan,” Türkmen said.
Baskett said hosting Türkmen has been great. Although culturally they are different, they are alike in more ways than one.
“Musa represents the Chiefs kingdom being worldwide, epic, personable, positive,” she said.
Now finally in Chiefs Kingdom, Türkmen is dancing and happy where he belongs.
“Chiefs is love, Chiefs is my love," he said.
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