A controversial gesture made by Turkish soccer player Merih Demiral at the European Championship has ignited a diplomatic brouhaha between Turkey and host nation Germany.
Turkey summoned the German ambassador on Wednesday to protest German interior minister Nancy Faeser’s condemnation of Demiral’s goal celebration the night before, when the player displayed a hand sign associated with an ultra-nationalist group. Demiral scored both goals Tuesday in a 2-1 win over Austria to earn Turkey’s place in the quarterfinals. After scoring the second goal he made a sign with each hand that is used by Turkish nationalists and associated with the Turkish ultra-nationalist organization Ulku Ocaklari, which is more widely known as the Gray Wolves.
Faeser urged UEFA to punish the player for making the gesture. “The symbols of Turkish right-wing extremists have no place in our stadiums. Using the soccer European Championship as a platform for racism is completely unacceptable,” Faeser said on X. Federal minister Cem Özdemir, a German politician of Turkish descent, said Demiral’s gesture is “extreme right” and “stands for terror, fascism.” UEFA said it was investigating Demiral’s “alleged inappropriate behavior.” The soccer body did not outline when the case might conclude. Turkey’s next game is against the Netherlands in Berlin on Saturday.
The spokesman for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party, Omer Celik, said Faeser’s comments and UEFA’s investigation are “unacceptable.” “It would be more appropriate for those looking for racism and fascism to focus on the recent election results in different European countries,” Celik wrote on X. Turkey’s Foreign Ministry also condemned the investigation as a politically motivated reaction “to the use of a historical and cultural symbol” during the goal celebration. A ministry statement said the gesture is not banned in Germany and noted that the German authority which safeguards the constitution had ruled in September 2023 that not everyone making the Gray Wolf sign could be classified as a far-right extremist. “We consider that the reactions shown by the German authorities toward Mr. Demiral themselves contain xenophobia,” the ministry said.
After Tuesday’s game, Demiral said his gesture was an innocent expression of his national pride and that there was “no hidden message or anything of the sort.” The player said he had the celebration in mind before scoring. “It has to do with this Turkish identity, because I’m very proud to be a Turk. And I felt that to the fullest after the second goal. So that’s how I ended up doing that gesture. I’m very happy that I did that,” Demiral said. “I saw people in the stadium who were doing that sign. So that reminded me that I also had that in mind.”
Later, he was asked again about the gesture. “How can I explain this?” he replied. “Of course we’re all Turkish. We’re all Turks in Turkey. We’re very proud. I’m very proud as a person to be a Turk. So that’s what I did. That was the meaning of the gesture. It’s quite normal.” Demiral said he hoped he’d get “more opportunities to do the same gesture again.”
