Arsenal star Mesut Ozil criticised by German football association after posing with Turkey’s Erdogan
Two of Germany’s biggest football stars have been caught up in political controversy after they were pictured meeting with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London.
German politicians called for Mesut Özil and Ilkay Gündogan to be dropped from the country’s World Cup squad after they were photographed shaking hands with Mr Erdogan and presenting him with signed jerseys from their Premiership clubs, Arsenal and Manchester City.
Mr Gündogan wrote “For my president” on the Manchester City shirt he gave the Turkish leader. Both players were born in Germany to immigrant Turkish families.
The row comes at a time of debate in Germany over integrating immigrant communities, but it has been made more explosive by public anger towards Mr Erdogan over the arrest of several German citizens in Turkey as part of a government crackdown on opponents.
Deniz Yücel, a German journalist, was held for over a year in a Turkish prison without trial on suspicion of espionage before being released and allowed to return to Germany.
“Posing with the Turkish president is not the sort of behavior that befits the German national team,” Ralf Stegner, deputy leader of Angela Merkel’s coalition partner, the Social Democrats (SPD), said yesterday.
“Posing in a London luxury hotel with the despotic Erdogan and courting him as 'my president' while he is oppressing democrats and imprisoning critical journalists in Turkey, is a gross foul,” Sevim Dagdelen of the opposition Left Party said.
“It’s strange that German footballers would let themselves be used in the election campaign of a Turkish president who has so recently made disparaging remarks about Germany,” Hans-Peter Friedrich, deputy speaker of the German parliament said.
Mr Erdogan faces re-election next month and has been accused of using his 3-day visit to the UK to campaign for the votes of expatriate Turks.
“The president of a German football national player is Frank-Walter Steinmeier, not Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” Cem Özdemir of the Green Party, one of Germany’s highest profile politicians of Turkish heritage, said.
“It is distasteful and embarrassing for football millionaires to be harnessed to the election campaign of an authoritarian ruler and to pay homage to him.”
Despite the furore the two players were both named as part of the German World Cup preliminary squad on Tuesday by Jogi Löw, the national coach.
Oliver Bierhoff, the national team manager, said he had spoken with both players about the incident and that they were “unaware of the symbolism and meaning of this photo”.
Reinhard Grindel, the president of the German Football Association (DFB), said: “Football and the DFB stand for values that Mr Erdogan does not respect. That's why it's not acceptable that our national team players are exploited for his election campaign.”
“It was not our intention to make a political statement, let alone to campaign with this image,” Mr Gündogan said in a statement. “As German national players, we are committed to the values of the DFB and are aware of our responsibility.”
