The disciplinary body of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has launched an investigation into a Turkish national player over his “Grey Wolves” salute at Tuesday’s European Championship game between Turkey and Austria, Deutsche Welle (DW) Turkish service reported on Wednesday.
Merih Demiral scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Austria on Tuesday, booking Turkey’s place in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals. He showed the “wolf salute,” with the little finger and index finger raised, with both hands at the match in Leipzig.
The salute is associated with ultranationalist Turkish organization the Grey Wolves, seen as the paramilitary wing of Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), an ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
The ideology of the Grey Wolves is mainly based on Turkish nationalism. Therefore, Kurds, Armenians and other minorities in Turkey have occasionally been their targets.
Since France officially banned the Grey Wolves in 2020, the German government has faced an intensified public campaign in favor of banning the Turkish nationalist group.
Although neither the organization nor the greeting is banned in Germany, the salute is banned in Austria.
UEFA, which sanctions political symbols that are deemed “inappropriate” for a sporting event by the Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body, has launched an investigation into Demiral for the wolf salute.
Demiral said at a Tuesday press conference, referring to the salute: “It has to do with my Turkish identity. Because I’m very proud to be a Turk. … I’m very happy that I did that.”
The Turkish national player also tweeted a photo on X of him giving the salute during Tuesday’s match.
🇹🇷 Ne mutlu Türküm diyene! pic.twitter.com/4K3kVPFxgW
— Merih Demiral (@Merihdemiral) July 2, 2024
Demiral’s move has attracted condemnation from German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, who on Wednesday said on X that the symbols of Turkish right-wing extremists “have no place in our stadiums.”
“Using the European Football Championship as a platform for racism is completely unacceptable. We expect UEFA to investigate the case and consider sanctions,” she added.
Die Symbole türkischer Rechtsextremisten haben in unseren Stadien nichts zu suchen. Die Fußball-Europameisterschaft als Plattform für Rassismus zu nutzen, ist völlig inakzeptabel. Wir erwarten, dass die UEFA den Fall untersucht und Sanktionen prüft.https://t.co/65yoSUAAQJ
— Nancy Faeser (@NancyFaeser) July 3, 2024
Demiral also drew criticism from journalists and human rights activists.
Journalist Hayri Tunç listed the criminal figures who have given the same hand salute as Demiral in a series of tweets to explain why he does not support the ideology of the Grey Wolves. Among the figures are Onur Gencer, who killed a party employee in an attack at the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) office in western Turkey in 2022; Ümitcan Uygun, who was accused of murdering his girlfriend Aleyna Çakır but wasn’t arrested despite overwhelming evidence; and former soldier Musa Orhan, who was convicted in 2021 of raping İpek Er, an 18-year-old Kurdish woman who later died by suicide.
Bir futbol maçı sonrası, oyunculardan birinin bozkurt işareti yapması üzerine size neden onlarla yan ya durmadığımı kısaca bugüne kadar bozkurt işaretini yapan kişilerden bazılarını göstererek anlatmaya çalışacağım
İzmir'de HDP binasını basıp Deniz Poyraz'ın katili Onur Gencer pic.twitter.com/VP9MMwrsks— hayritunc (@hayriituncc) July 3, 2024
Journalist Ruşen Takva also said in a tweet that the salute “does nothing but undermine social peace.”
Bu hareket toplumsal barışı zedelemekten başka hiçbir şeye yaramaz. pic.twitter.com/kJPmVbLzA8
— Ruşen Takva (@RusenTakva) July 2, 2024
Eren Keskin, co-chairperson of the Human Rights Association (İHD) and a prominent lawyer, said on X that she would “never feel united” because of the wolf salute.
Ben bu işaret ile ASLA ortaklaşmayacağım kendi adıma https://t.co/mWJaZ4gZeR pic.twitter.com/SAUwFuPnwM
— Eren Keskin (@KeskinEren1) July 2, 2024
She was referring to a statement by Sezgin Tanrıkulu, an MP from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), who congratulated the Turkish national team on their victory over Austria on Tuesday and thanked them for “uniting” the Turkish nation with their achievement in a tweet.
Meanwhile, BBC’s Turkish service (BBC Türkçe) reported on Wednesday that MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli condemned UEFA for launching an investigation into Demiral, claiming that the investigation was “a midway point in a chain of provocations.”
In 2021 the European Parliament called on the European Union and its member states to examine the possibility of adding the Grey Wolves to the EU terrorist list.
In its 2019-2020 report prepared by Turkey rapporteur Nacho Sanchez Amor, the EP voiced concerns about the group, saying it was expanding to worrying levels not only in Turkey but also in EU countries.