Euro 2024: Turkey’s Merih Demiral banned for two matches

Berlin –

UEFA banned Turkish player Merih Demiral for two matches on Friday for making a controversial hand gesture at the European Championships. The incident sparked a diplomatic row between Turkey and host country Germany.

Due to the suspension, Demiral will not be able to take part in his team’s quarter-final against the Netherlands on Saturday. If Turkey advances, they will also not be able to take part in the semi-final.

The Turkish Football Federation has joined Turkish government officials in condemning the ban but said it cannot appeal because the ban is under the three-match limit. The leader of Turkey’s nationalist party urged the team to boycott Saturday’s match and return home if UEFA’s “shameful decision” is not reversed.

After scoring his second goal in Turkey’s round of 16 win over Austria on Tuesday, Demiral made a sign with each hand used by Turkish nationalists and associated with the Turkish ultranationalist organization Ülkü Ocaklari, better known as the Grey Wolves.

“We think this ban is unfair because it was not a political gesture. It was interpreted as such, but it was simply something that was not properly understood,” said Turkiye coach Vincenzo Montella.

“But that will not affect Turkish pride. On the contrary, we will be more passionate and proud. We want to make the country proud. And I am sure that we will all be highly motivated. And that goes for the fans too.”

Demiral had said it was an innocent expression of national pride and he hoped he would have “more opportunities to make the same gesture again.”

However, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser condemned the gesture as “racism”, and Cem Özdemir, a German politician of Turkish descent, said the gesture stood for “terror, fascism”.

Her comments led to a sharp rebuke from the Turkish authorities and the summons of the German ambassador on Wednesday.

UEFA said it had banned Demiral “for failing to comply with the general principles of conduct, violating the basic rules of good behaviour, abusing sporting events for demonstrations of a non-sporting nature and bringing the reputation of football into disrepute”.

Before the decision, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who had changed his plans to visit Azerbaijan instead to attend Saturday’s quarter-final, said the 26-year-old defender had simply expressed his “excitement” after his second goal.

Association president Mehmet Büyükeksi described the decision as politically motivated and accused UEFA of “double standards”.

“Compared to the fines and suspended sentences for much more serious offenses, including racist behavior in the stands, this two-match ban is completely disproportionate,” the newspaper Hürriyet Buyukeksi quoted him as saying.

Büyükeksi denied Turkish media reports that his association wanted to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, arguing that the appeal process is closed for bans of less than three games.

“The two-game penalty took away our right to appeal,” he said.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said the decision had “reinforced the view that there is an increasing tendency in certain European countries to act with bias against foreigners.”

The Grey Wolves group was founded as a youth organization of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which currently forms an alliance with Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party. In the decades following its founding in the 1960s, the group was accused of involvement in politically motivated violence, especially against left-wing groups.

MHP chairman Devlet Bahceli said that if UEFA’s “shameful decision” was not reversed, the team would have to skip Saturday’s match.

“At this point in time, it is a moral and national expectation that our national football team does not play in the Netherlands match and in this way expresses its democratic protest,” he said.

Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Türkiye, contributed to this report.