February 25 – Former Real Madrid and Arsenal midfielder Mesut Özil has decided to enter the political game as a member of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi).
The 36-year-old, who represented Germany on 92 occasions, was elected as a member of the central committee of Erdoğan’s political entity during a council session that took place in Ankara on Sunday.
At the same time, Erdoğan was re-elected for the ninth time as head of the conservative-democratic party which has ruled Turkey since 2002.
Ahead of his international retirement in 2018, Özil posed alongside Erdoğan in the lead up to the 2018 general election, causing tensions in Germany.
Reinhard Grindel, who was head of the German Football Association at the time, accused Özil, and fellow German international İlkay Gündoğan, of allowing themselves to be ‘exploited’ by Mr Erdoğan for political purposes.
Some politicians questioned Özil’s loyalty to Germany, suggesting he should be removed from the national squad ahead of the World Cup in 2018. He did, however, represent the national team in the tournament, making two appearances.
Özil has maintained a very close relationship with the Turkish president. In 2019, Erdoğan was a special guest when he married model and actress Amine Gülşe, in Istanbul.
Contact the writer of this story, Aleksander Krassimirov, at moc.l1740489833labto1740489833ofdlr1740489833owedi1740489833sni@o1740489833fni1740489833