Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has named a two-match ban for national team player Merih Demiral for a controversial gesture purely political and a punishment for the whole country, adding that 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.
Erdogan comments for the first time on retur flight
There was outrage in Turkey but Erdogan did not comment on the ban until the return trip from attending the team's 2-1 quarter-final defeat against the Netherlands on Saturday night in Berlin.
"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."
President praises team
"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."
Erdogan visited the team in the dressing room after the match in Berlin's Olympic Stadium. He had flown in for the match together with his wife, Emine.
"I congratulate all of you. You are our champions regardless of today's result," Turkish media quoted Erdogan as telling the players.
Erdogan said the team has potential and "we will continue this work in the future."
The president shook hands with all players, including defender Demiral. Erdogan said earlier in the week that Demiral had only shown his "enthusiasm" with the gesture.
Visit not linked to Demiral ban
Turkish team manager Hamit Altintop told Magenta TV that the wolf salute affair was not the reason why Erdogan had come.
"It was already agreed beforehand that our head of state wanted to come to this match. That has nothing to do with the incident or UEFA's decision," Altintop said.
Coach won't comment on wolf salute, praises team
Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella did not comment on the gesture after the match and rather praised the Turkish fans for creating a home atmosphere.
"It's very hard and complicated to talk about football after a match, so I don't have the strength to talk about anything else," Montella told reporters.
Some 200,000 people with Turkish roots live in Berlin and Turkish fans were the majority at the Olympic stadium, where Turkey led from Samet Akaydin but the Dutch rallied from Stefan De Vrij and an own goal from Mert Müldür.
"The atmosphere is always like home. They supported us until the end, but this pride, this passion towards the team has been seen from day one, not only during matches," Montella said.
"What makes me really proud is seeing that even after the defeat the people showed love for what we showed during the tournament. That gives me a lot of joy. We need to keep fuelling this passion with our performance. Then you can either win or lose.
"We need to keep growing, keep improving, because the future is on our side," he side.
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