Aras Ozbiliz Signs with Besiktas Istanbul

ISTANBUL — Aras Ozbiliz, 25 year old Armenian International winger, has arrived in Istanbul to signed a 4.5 year contract with Turkish premier league team Besiktas, after he passes his medical.

Ozbiliz will be bought from Spartak Moscow for a fee of around € 3 million and will be directly loaned out to Spanish La Liga side Rayo Vallecano until the end of the season. Ozbiliz will have 6 months to get in good shape at a good level, La Liga, and he can immediately take Gökhan Töre’s place who will most likely be sold at the end of the season.

Born in Istanbul’s Bakirköy district, Ozbiliz was raised in Hoorn, Netherlands and holds both Dutch and Armenian citizenship. He received his Armenian passport on Oct. 4, 2011 thanks to an order by the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and chose to play for the Armenian national team, making his debut on Feb. 29, 2012, in a friendly match with Canada. He scored in his very first game.

Ozbiliz is a product of the Ajax Youth Academy and played as a professional at the Dutch side between 2010 and 2012, before moving to Russia’s Kuban Krasnodar. On July 26, 2013, Ozbiliz signed a multi-year contract with Spartak Moscow, with Kuban earning 10 million euros in transfer fees.

Republican People’s Party Armenian origin MP Selina Dogan has welcomed Ozbiliz’s transfer to “Besiktas” FC on her Facebook page. “I was very happy with the news on Armenian footballer Aras Ozbiliz’s transfer to “Besiktas”. There is no doubt that sport and sports competitions play an important role for societies to know each other better, understand and strengthen the fraternal ties. I highlight Aras Ozbiliz’s playing in Turkey from now on as an important fact in the frames of strengthening the fraternal ties between Turkish and Armenian societies,” Selina Dogan stated.