Asım Pars

Asım Pars — Biography

Asım Pars was a Bosnian-born center who became a Turkish citizen and played for the Turkish national team known as the 12 Dev Adam. He won a silver medal with Turkey at EuroBasket 2001 and was a four-time Turkish champion. Born Asim Paščanović, he spent most of a professional career of about twenty years, from 1993 to 2013, in Turkey. His height is given as between 2.11 and 2.13 metres.

He began in the youth ranks of Sloboda in his home country and won a Yugoslav junior title. After the Bosnian war began he played a season in Croatia, then came to Turkey in 1993 at the invitation of Nihad Izić and became a Turkish citizen in 1994. He developed at Galatasaray and Tuborg and wore the shirt of TOFAŞ. At the start of 2006-07 he moved to Russian Super League side Lokomotiv Rostov, in 2007-08 he joined Pınar Karşıyaka, and later in his career he also played for Mersin. He earned 94 caps in total for Turkey, 91 of them for the senior team.

The former player was found dead at the family home in Tojšići, near Kalesija, on 23 September 2024, aged 48. He was buried in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was married with two children, and Turkish basketball circles received the news with mourning.