woxic: "We're ready to prove nothing changed for us in terms of representing our country"

The Turkish sniper spoke at length about the fan backlash and his team's sadness surrounding their sudden departure from Eternal Fire.

Özgür "⁠woxic⁠" Eker arrived in Bucharest sporting a new kit, donning the colors and logo of Aurora after the Eternal Fire roster completed a shocking and sudden transfer to the Serbian organization on Friday.

There was no early indication that Turkey's premier Counter-Strike team, who have made playoffs at all five events they've attended this year, would be leaving the organization that their fans had rallied support around at home, hosting packed watch parties for many of the team's biggest matches.

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Aurora sign Eternal Fire roster in shock move

The inability to find a sponsorship to support a top-five team, particularly after Turkey tightened its regulations against bookmakers and casinos, left woxic and company with little other choice, but that did nothing to stop the enormous backlash from fans that followed.

"When we made the announcement, it was really rushed, and I understand people's anger, but they really talked badly about us," woxic told HLTV in Bucharest after Aurora beat Legacy to go 2-0 in the group stage.

"What we did for years and years to make Turkish Counter-Strike [what it is], they just deleted it in an instant, and they really called us in a bad way. [...] Maybe those were already toxic fans, or didn't even like us before, [...] but I also think many supporters are just heartbroken, which is understandable."

The 26-year-old was empathetic to the response from the Turkish fans and repeatedly admitted that his team is emotional and sad too, but said that they now need to turn attention back to the game.

"It's like a football game: when you're on the pitch, many people are swearing on your family and everything, but people still keep playing their game.

"This is what we have to do as well, here. Not just today, I've been doing this for my whole career, and this time, we had to do it again."

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You're up 2-0. It's a bit of a difficult moment with everything going on outside of the game, although you're playing quite well individually. Give me your thoughts on the first couple of days here in Bucharest after your first two matches.

For me, personally, after showing great games against one of the best teams in the world, it wasn't a satisfying performance with the games going so close, or going to overtime, and also losing a map and almost losing the whole series, but I can also understand it from our side because of the transfer and stuff.

We're not fully focused and mentally free to do our job, but I still think we're doing great because a win is a win; it doesn't matter how you win. I think we're just trying to focus on our game when we put the headsets on, and I think we did well until here. I hope we'll win one more game and make it into the playoffs.

So, let's dive into the transfer. There has been a lot of noise around that. You had to leave Eternal Fire, and you got picked up by Aurora. How did this all happen?

I cannot share all of the details, but I can say that we had to do it. It wasn't in our hands. It wasn't our players' decision. It had to be done because we couldn't find a sponsorship.

The deal we had was gone, and there was an issue with getting a sponsorship to pay for a top-five team, and there were also some different things. Some of our fans understood this, but I don't know what details I can give about it. Basically, we had to do it.

There was a lot of backlash from fans. What can you say to them, or how can you reply to that reaction now that a couple of days have passed and things are starting to settle a bit?

Yeah, when we made the announcement, it was really rushed, and I understand people's anger, but they really talked badly about us. What we did for years and years to make Turkish Counter-Strike [what it is], they just deleted it in an instant, and they really called us in a bad way. But maybe those were already toxic fans, or didn't even like us before, maybe those guys were just the ones starting to talk. I don't know. But I also think many supporters are just heartbroken, which is understandable.

I wrote that in my announcement, personally, but they called us traitors of the country and just decided to cancel Counter-Strike of the Turkish scene... But things can't be solved from our side, which happened way before, a couple of years [ago], when people sacrificed themselves a lot in these kinds of situations. But now there was no other option, that's why it happened, and it's not the first time.

We were really sad. The team, the boys, they're not happy, I can see it from their faces, and me, too. But I think day after day, people are going to start to understand and realize why we had to do that and they'll maybe give us better comments and everything.

Of course, there's still many people supporting us because they say that our roster is still playing, it doesn't matter who they play for. Some people are like this, and some people are saying, 'If they win any trophy, it won't come to our country,' that's their main point, which is understandable because we're emotional people, the Turkish people.

Also, we're emotional and sad about it, and many people were thinking that it was just about the money, that we're not even sad, but it's not at all, we're also sad that we're in this situation, that we became stuck in this situation, and that's why we were forced to do it.

Despite the first reaction of our fans, or at least some of them, we are ready to prove that nothing has changed for us in terms of representing our country on a global stage.

As I said, no one was happy when we learned this and decided this, but of course, I cannot say that we're not going to fix ourselves because there's also a team we're responsible for right now. They're believing in us and taking care of us well here. They welcomed us very well, so I think we'll do our job and do our best to thank them for believing in us.

And we are not only being taken care of in a new org, but also have a Turkish-speaking CEO sharing the same goals and values as we do — that was really important. This decision wasn't on our side, but I do believe that it was the best option available at the moment.

Do you think a lot of this has to do with the way it was communicated? It was all so quick and sudden, and if people had known there were problems before, that this would happen, and they could have adjusted to it...

Yeah, I think maybe we can call that a mistake because you should slowly tell people that this can happen. Not instantly, one day, when they're waking up and seeing the news... I think that's why they became so heartbroken, and that's why they put their anger in the comments, and it's understandable.

If I fell in love with the team and bought their jersey and tried to go to all the watch parties and everything, and the next day I wake up and see the news, I think I would be really angry, too, and I would be really sad, too. I understand that from their part, but it already happened so I cannot change it, and I think that was kind of a mistake.

Do you think the fact that it's Aurora has anything to do with it? Do you think if it would have been another organization you would have had the same reaction?

We didn't talk about it, but personally, if it was like FaZe, or G2, I think we'd get five or ten percent of this anger, which is understandable, too. When you're top five and competing at all events and going to playoffs and stuff this year, they probably just wanted to see us in a really good jersey if this was happening.

Do you have other options for places you could go to?

For five or six months, I've just been fully focused on my game. I'm just a player, so if there was, I don't know.

You tweeted that it was hard to play because of the external noise. What are you doing to try to stay focused, keep getting those results, and keep moving forward?

Today, things are happening to us, but this has been happening for many years. When I played badly, I also heard bad things. When I fucked up in the moment, I heard bad things... To get rid of it, you should care a bit to improve yourself, and the rest, you can tell they're talking bullshit, but this time it's different because it's very emotional for us, and for them as well.

We're trying not to read too much; we know who is still supporting us. My best solution is that when you put on your headset, you need to be a professional and not think anything about the outside. It's like a football game: when you're on the pitch, many people are swearing on your family and everything, but people still keep playing their game. This is what we have to do as well, here. Not just today, I've been doing this for my whole career, and this time, we had to do it again.

How important was it to get this 2-0 start and get closer to the playoffs at a moment like this?

Going to the playoffs at every tournament without missing any is a great feeling for us, but we haven't done it yet at this one. I think we will, 3-0, 3-1, 3-2. I think we will make it, but personally, because of what's happening outside of the game, it won't make me too happy. I want to make peace with the people who are really supporting us.

But anyway, it would be a team success, and a professional thing, so we'll do our best to go to playoffs and I will be really happy because even in this situation, which is really hard for us, we are still capable of going to playoffs and I need to be proud of it.

This is a good tournament for you because some of the best teams aren't here, so it gives you a chance to step up, and it's also a calm environment, so maybe it's a good situation for you to show your best selves?

Yeah, but me and the boys respect all of the teams here. We don't think we'll win this easily; it won't be easy, for sure. We struggled against really great teams, and here there aren't those kinds of teams... Well, there's actually a couple, but in the end, if we focus on our game and play like we were playing at the previous events before the stage... There's no big stage now, it's going to be in the studio, and we're the only top five team, so yeah.

I don't want to give big words because in previous tournaments, like at BLAST, I said that we were close to winning the tournament, and I said we would win it, and we lost in the semi-finals, so I don't want to jinx it. If it happens, I'll be really happy that we can win a trophy before the Major.

You're kind of on the edge, right? You get results against the best teams, and you're kind of fighting to be amongst the best of the best, but there's still a step you need to take. What do you think it is? What will get you there?

In some games, when we're fully focused, like quarters, semis, and finals, when people are talking, they don't understand each other. It can be because of pressure or because they're fully focused on the game... Maybe if we can fix that and be calm like how we play here now, I think it will get us one step closer to winning the trophy.

Sometimes it gets too chaotic, but I think we've fixed that issue in previous stages because at the start of the year we had a chaotic TeamSpeak. It wasn't very clear, and sometimes you could miss info and stuff, but at the last tournament, in the MOUZ game, I think we kind of played great, but XANTARES had some back issues and wasn't comfortable. He didn't want to show any of us, and he just tried to do his job in the best way, but if he was feeling his firepower like he does usually, we would have probably won the MOUZ game — he thinks like this, too.

But sometimes this happens; it's life, and people can have an issue. But yeah, fixing the TeamSpeak, fixing the team's communications, will help us get further, and also sometimes we need to take a break from tournaments to get more things because otherwise it's getting leaked — we're just trying to fix one thing, and get new utilities, but after you show it, in two days that idea or tactic is exposed.

We need some time to practice more, to create new things, and to show much better Counter-Strike. We don't have much time to fix things; before a game, we have two or three hours, and we're trying to add new things in that time. I don't think that's good. We're trying it in officials, and we don't know if it's going to work or not.

You're playing so many tournaments, one after the other, so have you made some room to come up with new stuff, and so on?

Yeah, we're not going to the next two tournaments, so we'll have around 20 days. I don't know how many days we'll take as a break, but maybe 10 days of practice to try and fix our books again. I think in that time we'll be really refreshed because, also, going tournament after tournament, from the airport to the hotel, back to the airport, these things also make you tired. Even if you want to play a tournament and get the trophy, your body is getting tired, and you don't understand this.

You spoke about XANTARES' back, and he had tweeted about being on medication and how it was hard. How is he doing now? Is he doing better?

Yeah, he had a limited time, like four days, but he got rid of it, I think, and he's feeling much better. I think after this tournament he'll go get another check-up, and I think he'll be fully ready after 15 or 20 days.