July 5 – The fallout over the ultra-nationalist gesture made by Turkey’s two-goal hero Merih Demiral at Euro 2024 has spiralled further with Germany summoning the Turkish ambassador to Berlin.
Demiral scored both goals in Turkey’s dramatic 2-1 win over Austria in Leipzig to earn a place in the quarterfinals but celebrated his second by making a controversial hand salute used by Turkish nationalists and associated with the Turkish ultra-nationalist organisation Ulku Ocaklari, more widely known as the Grey Wolves.
The gesture prompted UEFA to open an investigation as well as creating a diplomatic spat with the German foreign ministry summoning the Turkish ambassador just a few days before the planned visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Berlin where he will attend the quarterfinal against the Netherlands on Saturday.
“As hosts of Euro 2024, we want sport to unite,” the German foreign ministry said, 24 hours after the Turkish foreign ministry summoned the German ambassador in Ankara in a tit-for-tat move.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry quickly denounced the German authorities’ approach to Demiral as “xenophobia”, defending the gesture made by Demiral as a historical and cultural symbol that is not directed against anyone in particular but expresses joy.
But German Interior Minister Nancy Pfizer said “using Euro 2024 as a platform for racism is completely unacceptable. The symbols of Turkish right-wing extremists have no place in our stadium.”
Federal minister Cem Özdemir, a German politician of Turkish descent, agreed, adding that Demiral’s gesture “stands for terror, fascism.”
Established in the 1960s, the ‘Grey Wolves’ were involved in political violence between leftists and nationalists in Turkey that killed some 5,000 people around the time of a 1980 coup.
The organisation was outlawed in France and the sign is banned in Austria. Although the Gray Wolves badge is not banned in Germany, the organization is under surveillance.
Erdogan has reportedly changed his schedule to attend the match having originally been due to attend a summit of the Organization of Turkic States in Azerbaijan.
After Tuesday’s game against Austria, Demiral said his gesture was an innocent expression of his national pride and that there was “no hidden message or anything of the sort.”
“How can I explain this? 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.”
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Erdogan’s party, Omer Celik, condemned both Faeser’s comments and UEFA’s investigation as “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.
Contact the writers of this story, Andrew Warshaw and Alexander Krassimirov, at moc.l1735094894labto1735094894ofdlr1735094894owedi1735094894sni@w1735094894ahsra1735094894w.wer1735094894dna1735094894 or moc.l1735094894labto1735094894ofdlr1735094894owedi1735094894sni@o1735094894fni1735094894