Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has thrown his help behind the nationwide footballer Merih Demiral, calling his ban purely political and a punishment for the entire nation.
Speaking to journalists on his return journey from Berlin, the president mentioned the choice by UEFA solid a shadow over the Euro 2024 match.
Demiral was sanctioned by the European soccer physique for making the wolf signal after scoring within the last-16 in opposition to Austria.
In the West, the wolf signal is wrongly attributed, amongst different issues, to a far-right extremist motion referred to as “grey wolves.”
There was outrage in Türkiye however Erdogan didn’t touch upon the ban till getting back from attending the group’s 2-1 quarterfinal defeat in opposition to the Netherlands on Saturday night time.
“The punishment against Merih is not about Merih personally. In fact, it is a punishment given to Türkiye as a nation,” Erdoğan mentioned.
“To be honest, UEFA’s two-match ban on Merih has cast a serious shadow over the championship. It is inexplicable, it is a purely political decision.”
“Thank God it did not affect the morale and motivation of our national players. Despite all these negativities, our national football team has given such a football school as the Netherlands a very hard time.”
“Our national team responded to the injustice done to them with the spectacular football they played on the field. I wholeheartedly congratulate our internationals who did their best until the last second and made us feel great excitement and pride,” he added.
Source: www.dailysabah.com