With his two goals, Merih Demiral was instrumental in Turkey being among the eight best teams in the current European Championship. After eliminating Austria, the team coached by Vincenzo Montella will face the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
However, the UEFA has opened an investigation into the Al-Ahli player by alleged inappropriate behavior for a gesture he made in the celebration of his second goal. Specifically, he made the gesture making the horns, related to the Gray Wolves, an ultranationalist group that enacts the historical supremacy of the Turks.
In the Ottoman country, The ultra-nationalist party MHP is its political representativeas well as being a partner of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Racist, xenophobic and far-right paramilitary, this group emerged in the 1960s as a youth wing linked to the National Movement Party. Its goals include the creation of an empire spanning from the Balkans to China.
Its symbol is the Grey Wolf (Grey Wolf in Turkish), whose origin dates back to an ancient Turkish myth that is intended to symbolize the strength and aggressiveness of the movement. Specifically, the Symbol refers to the she-wolf Asena, mother of all Turks according to national mythology and central figure of national identity. Its ideological basis, in addition to Turkish nationalism, is the Turanismthat is, the political movement that advocates the union of the Ural-Altaic peoples (Turkey and Central Asia).
Criticism of the German government
Although in Turkey there are those who believe that the gesture simply shows pride in being Turkish, Supporters of the far-right LKC movement are monitored by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Germanywhich could cause the player to have problems with the authorities. According to this organization, the number of members of this group is estimated at more than 12,000.
In Germany, Federal Minister for the Interior and Home Affairs Nancy Faeser has criticised the gesture. Symbols of the Turkish far right have no place in our stadiums. Using the European Football Championship as a platform for racism is completely unacceptableWe hope that UEFA will investigate the case and consider sanctions.
Illegalized in France four years ago
It was in the to 2020when France decreed the illegalization of this movement ultra-nationalist, following incidents involving several of its members during protests, as well as violent actions against the Armenian and Kurdish communities in the town of Dcines-Charpieu, near Lyon.
At that time, the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin described this group as particularly aggressive, to say the least.The decree published by the minister stated that this organisation brings together sympathisers of the Turkish far right, with an ideology that tends to discriminate against or provoke violence against people of Kurdish or Armenian origin.
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