Turkey’s Demiral to be suspended for two games over wolf gesture

Turkey defender Merih Demiral is to be banned for two games by UEFA following a gesture he made during his side’s last-16 win against Austria on Tuesday and will miss Saturday’s Euro 2024 quarter-final against Netherlands, German media reported.

The 26-year-old centre back scored twice in a 2-1 win over the Austrians to send his side into the last eight for the first time since 2008, and celebrated by making a “wolf” gesture with his fingers.

The gesture is linked to the “Grey Wolves”, an ultra-nationalist youth branch of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which is an ally of President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party.

“The symbols of Turkish right-wing extremists have no place in our stadiums,” Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a post on X, and UEFA subsequently opened a disciplinary case against Demiral.

German newspaper Bild reported on Thursday that it had received information that the player would be banned for two games over the gesture, but it did not specify a source for its claim.

Turkey’s foreign ministry said UEFA’s probe was unacceptable and that German authorities’ approach to Demiral “involved xenophobia”.

“We condemn the politically-motivated reactions to the use of a historical and cultural symbol, in a way that does not target anyone, during the celebrations of joy at a sporting event,” it said.

The ministry also summoned Germany’s ambassador to Ankara over the dispute, a Turkish diplomatic source said.

‘PROUD TO BE TURKISH’

Elated by his man-of-the-match performance, Demiral told reporters he had planned the gesture.

“I had a celebration in mind about being Turkish. I did that (gesture). I am very proud to be a Turk, I felt that to my bones after scoring the goal, that is why I wanted to do something like that,” he said after the match.

“I am very happy to have done that, all the fans are proud of us. I saw people in the audience doing that. I wanted to do it after seeing them.”

The German Israeli Society, which described the “Grey Wolves” as a threat to Jews as well as Armenians, Greeks and Kurds, called on German authorities to ban the group.

“The ideological superiority of these fascist nationalists jeopardises public safety,” its president Volker Beck said in a statement.

In Turkey, the ruling AK party and its MHP ally both defended Demiral and said the backlash was out of proportion.

AK party spokesperson Omer Celik said those worried about racism and fascism should focus on recent elections around the continent where the far right has been on the rise.

“The Grey Wolf sign made by our son Merih after hitting the net is the Turkish nation’s message to the world, and UEFA’s launch of an investigation in this context is both ill-intentioned and part of a chain of provocations that have gained dangerous ground in recent days,” added MHP leader Devlet Bahceli.

The incident coincided with the start of a trial in Turkey of 22 people over the murder of former “Grey Wolves” leader Sinan Ates, who was gunned down in Ankara in late 2022.

Turkey meet the Netherlands in their quarter-final at Berlin’s Olympiastadion on Saturday, a game the Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan is expected to attend.