Turkey's four-time European cross country gold medallist Aras Kaya has been banned for three years after testing positive for EPO ©Getty Images

Turkey's four-time European cross country gold medallist Aras Kaya has been banned for three years after testing positive for erythropoietin (EPO) at a recent 10 kilometres race, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has reported.

The 28-year-old Olympian, who was born as Amos Kibitok in Kenya, admitted using recombinant EPO at the race in Romania in September.

The violation carries a four-year ban but Kaya received a one-year reduction because he "returned a signed admission" on the day he was notified of the test result, the AIU said.

His suspension began on December 4 and all results since September 25 - the day Kaya gave the sample which came back positive for EPO - have been disqualified.

Kaya won the men's individual European cross country title at Chia in 2016 and Lisbon in 2019, as well as helping Turkey earn team gold medals in 2017 and 2018.

Turkey's Aras Kaya, banned for three years after admitting taking EPO, has earned two individual and two team golds at the European Cross Country Championships ©Getty Images
Turkey's Aras Kaya, banned for three years after admitting taking EPO, has earned two individual and two team golds at the European Cross Country Championships ©Getty Images

On the track he won 3,000 metres steeplechase silver at the 2016 European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam and competed in the heats at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

EPO boosts an athlete's red blood cells and thus athletic capacity.

Kaya's adopted nation Turkey was earlier this year put on an AIU watchlist for competition manipulation.

Kenya, where Kaya was born, is in the AIU's high-risk Category A for doping.

World Athletics President Sebastian Coe has warned that Kenya faces "a long journey" to regain trust because of an abundance of doping cases.