2024-07-06 12:52:21
After the scandalous “wolf salute” celebration by the Turkish national team, President Erdoğan is now coming to Germany. What can we expect?
There was a huge outcry after Turkish national player Merih Demiral showed the so-called wolf salute to Turkish fans on Tuesday after the European Championship victory against Austria. The “wolf salute” is a symbol of the right-wing extremist, nationalist Turkish movement “Grey Wolves”, which is being monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Germany.
The scandal surrounding the symbol also prompted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to travel to Berlin at short notice to watch Turkey’s quarter-final match against the Netherlands (Saturday, 9 p.m.) in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. According to the German Press Agency, Erdoğan even canceled a trip to Azerbaijan for this. The autocratic president wants to support the Turkish team with his trip to Berlin. According to information from the Chancellery, a meeting with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is not planned.
Erdoğan’s alleged trip is considered an open provocation against Germany. The German ambassador to Turkey had already been summoned for talks in advance due to the incident and the sharp criticism from the German government – in particular from Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock responded to the diplomatic affront and invited the Turkish ambassador in Berlin to consultations at the Foreign Office.
Erdoğan’s visit could, above all, inflame the mood among the many citizens of Turkish origin in Germany and provoke further scandals. The Turkish fan group “Turkish Ultras” is already calling for the “wolf salute” to be shown at the game against the Netherlands “as a sign of Turkish unity and identity,” as stated in a post on the X platform.
However, the police presence will not change if the Turkish head of state visits, said Benjamin Jendro, spokesman for the Berlin Police Union. “We are already calling in everything that can be done.” He called the quarter-final a “non plus ultra high-risk game” and said around 3,000 officers are expected to be on duty.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Kurdish community in Germany, Ali Ertan Toprak, is warning against a potential visit by Erdoğan. In an interview with the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND), he is calling on the German government not to give Erdoğan a platform during his visit. “Autocrats should stay at home,” said Toprak.
Toprak also fears that a visit by Erdoğan will “once again fuel Turkish nationalism in the stadiums and on the fan miles. It thrives on these conflicts and thus distracts from its own problems.”
It is therefore easy to imagine that Demiral’s “wolf salute” will only be the beginning of many more scandals. It would not be the first time that Erdoğan has exploited football for his political purposes.