UEFA suspends Turkish football player for saluting “Grey Wolves”

Turkish soccer player Meih Demiral was banned for two matches by the Union of European Football Associations on Friday for showing the salute of the “Grey Wolves,” the Turkish ultranationalist far-right group supported by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

UEFA’s two-day ban on the Turkish player during the 2024 European Championship has sparked a diplomatic row between Turkey and host country Germany, the Associated Press reported.

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

“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 Turkish coach Vincenzo Montella.

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

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

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

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

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

This is not the first disciplinary action against Demiral, who was reprimanded in 2019 along with 15 other Turkish players for showing military salutes at matches when the country was conducting a military offensive in Syria.

Former Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu sparked a diplomatic dispute with Uruguay in 2022 when he performed the Grey Wolf salute during a visit to the country’s capital, Montevideo.

Cavusoglu was on an official visit to Uruguay to attend the opening of a new Turkish embassy and to begin negotiations for a bilateral free trade agreement. On April 23, one day before the anniversary of the Armenian genocide, he showed a group of Armenian protesters in Montevideo the hand gesture of the ultranationalist Grey Wolves organization. This action was condemned by Uruguay’s then president and foreign minister.

Erdoğan also used the Grey Wolf salute at election campaign events and other gatherings of supporters of his AKP party.

In 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed amendments to that year’s defense budget, calling on the State Department to designate the Grey Wolves as a terrorist organization.