Turkish national player Merih Demiral caused a stir with his celebration gesture in the 2-1 European Championship round of 16 win against Austria. After scoring the second goal on Tuesday evening in the Leipzig stadium, the 26-year-old established the so-called wolf salute with both hands, a hand sign and symbol of the “Grey Wolves”.
The middle and ring fingers touch the thumb, while the index and little fingers point upwards in imitation of wolf ears.
Merih Demiral shows the so-called wolf salute.
Photo: dpa/Sebastian Christoph Gollnow
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Report: UEFA bans Demiral for two matches
The European Football Union UEFA has banned Turkey according to a report from “Bild“Suspended for two games. Demiral is therefore not in his team’s quarter-final against the Netherlands in Berlin on Saturday, July 6, or in a possible semi-final. The leader of the ultranationalist MHP, Devlet Bahceli, described the initiation of proceedings against the player as “provocation”. The Turkish Ministry of Communications also wrote on Platform X this afternoon that the block was misinformation. UEFA initially did not want to comment on this on Thursday evening. A decision will not be announced until Friday.
This is what Merih Demiral says about using the wolf salute
“The way I celebrated has something to do with my Turkish identity,” Demiral said after midnight in Leipzig’s European Championship stadium. “That’s why I made this sign. I saw people in the stadium doing that sign too.”
There is “no hidden message” behind it. “We are all Turkish, I am very proud of Turkey and that is the meaning of this movement,” he said. “I wanted to show how happy and proud I am.”
A clear criticism of Demiral: mocking the victims
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) sharply criticized the joyful gesture on X, known as Twitter: “The symbols of Turkish extremists have no place in our stadiums. It is unacceptable to use the European Football Championship as a platform for racism.”
Federal Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir (Greens) said of the cheering on X: “His message is right-wing extremist, it stands for terror, for fascism.”
Read more: Turkey’s ultras want to salute the wolf on a grand scale at European Championship quarter-finals
He added: “I wonder why the Gray Wolf symbol has not been banned from being displayed here for a long time. This right-wing extremist symbol stands for shameful anti-Semitism and the expulsion of the last Christians from the area where the early Christians settled.” Austria should have made the blessing a punishable offence, and that should also apply in Germany, the Green politician confirmed.
Human rights activist Düzen Tekkal criticized Demiral’s behavior: “For years I have been receiving death threats from supporters of the Gray Wolves, one of the largest right-wing extremist groups in Germany. The fact that Merih Demiral shows the right-wing extremist wolf salute here is a mockery of the victims. So bitter for Turkish fans,” she wrote on X.
Turkish journalist and author Can Dündar wrote on the platform: “Congratulations, Merih!
With one gesture you reduced the joy from 100 percent to 5 percent.”
The Threatened People’s Association also asked UEFA not to display the wolf salute. “It is a total scandal to display the wolf salute so prominently on the anniversary of the Sivas mass,” said the STP’s Middle East adviser, Kamal Sido. “The Turkish national team must publicly distance itself from displaying right-wing extremist symbols.”
Bochum political scientist Ismail Küpeli explained: “The wolf salute is clearly known in Turkey as a symbol of the Turkish extremism, the Gray Wolves, among the supporters and those who suffer from this ideology them, such as Alevis, Kurds and Armenians. .”
Following criticism from Berlin over the controversial wolf salute celebration, Turkey has summoned the German ambassador. AFP news agency learned this from diplomatic circles on Wednesday.
These are the “Gray Wolves” in Turkey
Supporters of the far-right “Ülkücü Movement”, monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Germany, are known as “Gray Wolves”. In Germany it is said to have more than 12,000 members. The aim of the supporters: a great empire that would include all Turkic peoples – from the Balkans to China.
Read more: Turkish player encourages wolf salute – why isn’t the gesture banned?
In Turkey, the ultranationalist MHP is its political representative and an alliance partner with the conservative Islamist AKP of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Photo: AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP Pool via AP/dpa
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Demiral scored the fastest goal in the winning round of the European Championships in Leipzig after 57 seconds and in the 59th minute. He was voted “Man of the Match”. Turkey will play the Netherlands in Berlin on Saturday for a place in the semi-finals of the European Championship.
Demiral has already attracted attention with other goal celebrations
Demiral was already involved in a controversial political scene when he celebrated a goal in 2019. At the time, the Turkish army was carrying out attacks in northern Syria. In the 2020 European Championship qualifier against Albania, players welcomed the goal, including Demiral, to celebrate.
Turkish national players welcomed for the first time in the match against Albania in 2019 (from left): Yusuf Yazici, Cenk Tosun, Merih Demiral, Mehmet Zeki Celik and Hakan Calhanoglu. They repeated the gesture in the match against France.
Photo: dpa/AP/Uncredited
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In the next match against France, many national players lined up and welcomed him again, including Demiral again. Goalscorer Kaan Ayhan himself did not repeat the gesture at the time – so he got into a dispute with Demiral on the pitch, as seen on television images.