BERLIN (AP) — UEFA suspended Turkey participant Merih Demiral for 2 matches on Friday for making a controversial hand gesture on the European Championship, an incident that has led to a diplomatic row between Turkey and host nation Germany.
Turkey’s vp, Cevdet Yilmaz, denounced the choice as unacceptable and known as for it to be “corrected.”
“The joy and great thing about soccer shouldn’t be overshadowed by political choices,” Yilmaz mentioned.
The ban guidelines Demiral out of his crew’s quarterfinal towards the Netherlands on Saturday, and the semifinal, ought to Turkey progress.
After scoring his second aim in Turkey’s round-of-16 win towards Austria, Demiral made an indication with every hand that’s utilized by Turkish nationalists and related to the Turkish ultra-nationalist group Ulku Ocaklari, which is extra extensively often known as the Grey Wolves.
Demiral had mentioned it was an harmless expression of nationwide satisfaction and that he hoped he’d have “extra alternatives to do the identical gesture once more.”
It was condemned by German inside minister Nancy Faeser and different German politicians, resulting in a harsh rebuke from Turkish authorities and the summoning of the German ambassador.
UEFA mentioned it banned Demiral “for failing to adjust to the overall rules of conduct, for violating the essential guidelines of respectable conduct, for utilizing sports activities occasions for manifestations of a non-sporting nature and for bringing the game of soccer into disrepute.”
Talking earlier than the choice, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is because of attend Saturday’s recreation in Berlin, mentioned the 26-year-old defender had merely expressed his “pleasure” after scoring towards Austria.
The Turkish soccer affiliation had no rapid response to the ban, although Turkish media studies mentioned the affiliation would attraction the choice on the Courtroom of Arbitration of Sport.
Omer Celik, the spokesman for Erdogan’s ruling celebration, criticized UEFA’s ban as a “an especially incorrect resolution.” He instructed that the governing physique had bowed to the affect of “sure stress teams.”
“UEFA’s resolution has forged a shadow of political affect over soccer,” Celik wrote on the social media platform X.
Turkey’s International Ministry mentioned the choice “has strengthened the view that there’s a rise within the tendency to behave with prejudice towards foreigners in sure European international locations.”
Demiral was beforehand one in every of 16 Turkey gamers reprimanded in 2019 for making military-style salutes at video games at a time when the nation was conducting a navy offensive in Syria.
The Grey Wolves group was based because the youth wing of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Motion Social gathering, or MHP, which is presently in an alliance with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling celebration, the Justice and Growth Social gathering.
Within the a long time following its founding within the Nineteen Sixties, the group was accused of within the involvement in politically motivated violence, largely towards leftist teams.
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Related Press author Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.
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AP Euro 2024: https://apnews.com/hub/euro-2024