Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday that UEFA’s decision to suspend national team defender Merih Demiral for making the nationalist “Grey Wolf” hand gesture was political and cast a shadow over the tournament.
Erdogan cancelled his scheduled trip to Azerbaijan in order to travel to Berlin on Saturday to watch the Euro 2024 quarter-final match against the Netherlands at the Olympic Stadium in the German capital, which was attended by thousands of Turkish fans.
The Netherlands came out victorious from the match after coming from behind to win 2-1 and reach the semi-finals of the continental competition.
Demiral, who scored twice against Austria in the last 16, was unable to play on Saturday after UEFA suspended him for two matches after he celebrated his second goal with a “wolf salute” on Thursday, a gesture associated with the Grey Wolves, a group politically represented by the Nationalist Movement Party.
“To be honest, the two-match suspension by UEFA has cast a serious shadow over the tournament,” Erdogan was quoted as telling reporters on a plane from Berlin, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
“This cannot be explained, it is a purely political decision,” he added.
However, Erdogan pointed out that the decision did not affect the morale of his country’s team, adding, “Despite all the negatives… we watched an exciting match.”
For his part, Italian Vincenzo Montella (Turkey coach) had indicated – on Friday – that Demiral’s suspension “was not fair.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his wife celebrate Akaydin’s opening goal against the Netherlands.https://t.co/P6qIE3VEFi pic.twitter.com/RmZpDQPPdB
— Al Jazeera Net Sports (@AJASports) July 6, 2024
Ozil supports Demiral
Former German international Mesut Ozil, the 2014 World Cup champion, announced his support for Demiral, after he was suspended for two matches.
Yesterday, Saturday, Ozil, who is of Turkish origin, posted a picture of defender Demiral making the “wolf” sign, accompanied by the phrase “Go Turkey”, on his personal Instagram account’s “Stories” feature.
He followed this photo with another in which he said, “I’m coming,” referring to his heading to the “Olympic” stadium in Berlin, to support the Turkish national team during its match against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals of “Euro 2024”, on Saturday evening.
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