Jose Mourinho has hit Galatasaray with a lawsuit after being accused of racism.
Fenerbahce have confirmed that Mourinho is taking legal action after the Portuguese was accused of making "racist statements" following their goalless draw with their bitter rivals on Monday night.
A statement from Fener on Friday afternoon declared: "We would like to announce that a lawsuit for non-pecuniary damages of 1 million 907 thousand Turkish Liras (£42k) has been filed against Galatasaray by Jose Mourinho. This is through Fenerbahçe lawyers due to the attack on the personal rights of our manager."
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Mourinho said the Gala bench had been "jumping like monkeys". He also declared that the fixture was better due to Slovenian official Slavko Vincic being the referee, rather than an official from Turkey.
Turkish league officials banned Mourinho for four matches and fined the ex-Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs boss £35,000.
The Turkish Football Federation stated it was penalising him for "his derogatory and offensive statements towards the Turkish referee" and because Mourinho had "accused Turkish football of chaos and disorder with insulting and offensive statements towards both the Turkish football community and all Turkish referees".
According to Fener on Tuesday, Mourinho's comments after the match were "taken completely out of context and deliberately distorted". They added that they should "in no way be associated with racism".
Their statement read: "As any rational person can see and understand, these statements used by José Mourinho during the match to describe the overreaction of the opposing team's technical committee to the referee's decisions cannot be associated with racism in any way.
"Trying to portray this statement as a racist statement is a completely malicious approach. We inform the public that we will use our legal rights regarding this incompetent slander, which is thrown in order to take the rivalry off the field, change and manipulate the agenda."
The club's vice president, Acun Illicali, added: "The history of his life he has always had very good relations with people all over the world, of different nationalities. It is so clearly understandable. It’s an insult to the intelligence of some people."
Galatasaray had already announced that they intend to bring criminal proceedings over Mourinho's comments.
Ex-Chelsea star Didier Drogba - who played under Mourinho at Stamford Bridge and had a successful spell at Galatasaray - leapt to the defence of his former coach after seeing the claims.
He said: "Trust me when I tell you I have known Jose for 25 years and he is not a racist and history [past and recent] is there to prove it."
He added: "How can my 'Dad' be a racist. Come on guys."
Galatasaray are currently six points clear of Fenerbahce at the top of the Super Lig.
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