Erdogan: Demiral ban is purely political and casts shadow over Euros

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has named the two-match ban for national team player Merih Demiral political and a punishment for the whole country, adding it casts a shadow over the Euro 2024 tournament.

Demiral was sanctioned by UEFA for making the wolf salute gesture after scoring against Austria in the quarter-finals.

The wolf salute is attributed, among other things, to a far-right extremist movement. The movement known as “Ülkücü” or “grey wolves” are linked to political allies of Erdogan, the ultra-nationalist MHP in Turkey.

There was outrage in Turkey but Erdogan did not comment on the ban until returning from attending the team's 2-1 quarter-final defeat against the Netherlands on Saturday night.

"The punishment against Merih is not about Merih personally. In fact, it is a punishment given to Turkey as a nation," Anadolu news agency quoted Erdogan as telling reporters on the flight back to Turkey.

"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."