European Football Championship: Erdoğan in the dressing room: Wolf salutation scandal overshadows the end of the European Championship

There was no conversation with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took time for a personal meeting with the national players during his quick visit to the Berlin Olympic Stadium. The 70-year-old looked at disappointed faces when he unexpectedly appeared in the Turkish dressing room late on Saturday evening after being eliminated in the quarter-finals of the European Football Championship.

As if on command, the dejected players rose from the benches as the locker room door opened and Erdoğan entered the room. In a dark suit and with a serious expression, the Turkish head of state went around, diligently shook hands, offered consolation and stood demonstratively behind his protégés in the midst of the wolf salutation scandal.

Applause for Erdoğan

»I congratulate you all. Even though we achieved this result here today, you are our champions,” said Erdoğan encouraging words to his compatriots. The president also shook the hand of the suspended Merih Demiral, whose controversial cheering gesture had triggered the political debates surrounding the game against the Netherlands, sending a clear message to the world.

“What is done, is done. We were in the last eight. I hope we will now be the champions. There is also a future. We will get through this too,” promised Erdoğan, who beat his heart and once again portrayed himself as an ardent patriot. He left the locker room to applause from the team.

But the topic wasn’t ticked off for him. On the flight home, Erdoğan commented again on the wolf salute debate. »To be honest, the UEFA ban for two games against Merih cast a heavy shadow over the championship. This is inexplicable, it is a purely political decision,” said the 70-year-old in an interview with journalists, according to the state news agency Anadolu. The sanction should not be assessed in a sporting manner. “In fact, it is a punishment for Turkey as a nation.”

Özil fuels debate

The staging had already begun hours before the bitter 1:2, when Erdoğan was driven to the stadium in an armored limousine, accompanied by dozens of police cars. Together with his entourage and wife Emine, the president took a seat in the VIP gallery. Former German international Mesut Özil was also among the guests. The clear message to the team: We have your back.

Özil had previously fueled the heated debate with posts on Instagram. So he shared a photo of the criticized Demiral celebration. It was accompanied by a cheer for Turkey. A few days earlier, the 35-year-old had posed shirtless for a photo in which his chest tattoo with three crescent moons and a howling wolf can be seen. These symbols are assigned to the “Gray Wolves”.

The wolf salute usually expresses affiliation or sympathy with the Turkish right-wing extremist Ülkücü movement and its ideology. In Turkey, for example, it is used by the ultranationalist MHP party, which is a partner of the government under President Erdoğan.

Because of the wolf greeting: the fan march is canceled

The gesture was very present in Berlin hours before the game. Thousands of Turkish fans gathered at Breitscheidplatz and repeatedly showed the symbol. Some of them wore wolf masks. Others held up signs strongly criticizing UEFA’s decision to suspend Demiral for two matches. The police eventually stopped the fan march because of “continued political messages.”

Things continued in the stadium. Erdoğan and Özil watched from their stands as thousands of fans wrapped in red and white flags complied with the ultras’ demands and gave the wolf salute during the national anthem.

Erdoğan’s plan fails in the final phase

Erdoğan’s goal was clear. Travel to Berlin, celebrate the second semi-final in European Championship history with a win against the Netherlands and show the world: Turkey is stronger than its opponents and critics. And the plan initially seemed to work.

The Turks played passionately and were slightly the better team for long stretches. The lead by Samet Akaydin (35th minute) – the player who came into the starting line-up for the suspended Demiral – was deserved. Erdoğan jumped up, hugged his wife and waved to the fans. But a header from Stefan de Vrij (70′) and an own goal from Mert Müldür (76′) sealed the European Championship exit.

But hardly anyone talked about sports anyway. The debates, which had already caused a lot of outrage in the days before kick-off and provoked statements from numerous top politicians, also pushed football into the background on Saturday.

Anyone who talks about the Turkish European Championship games in a few weeks will talk less about the passionate performances, the football that is definitely worth watching or the young star Arda Güler. Nor about Turkey’s surprise win in the round of 16 against Austria or the deafening support of the tens of thousands of fans in the stadiums. What is much more likely to stick is the wolf salute, Erdoğan’s production and a lot of political fuss.dpa/nd