Erdogan defends footballer Mesut Özil ahead of trip to Germany

“Should we lynch a German player who plays in our country when he takes a photo with Frau Merkel [the German chancellor]?”

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Ahead of his trip to Germany this week to improve bilateral relations, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the controversy surrounding Turkish-German footballer Mesut Özil is a case of double-standards.

In May, Özil and fellow Turkish-German footballer Ilkay Gündoğan posed for a photo with Erdogan during the Turkish leader’s visit to London in the United Kingdom where he met with Prime Minister Theresa May.

The German Football Association (DFB) criticized the players, claiming they had been “manipulated” for Erdogan’s elections campaign ahead of snap polls on June 24.

“Should we lynch a German player who plays in our country when he takes a photo with Frau Merkel [the German chancellor]?” Erdogan stated in an interview with Germany’s Funke Mediengruppe on Wednesday.

He said the Arsenal midfielder, as well as Manchester City’s Gündoğan, “feel at home in both countries—the country they were born in and the country their parents come from.”

Footballers Ilkay Gündoğan (left), Mesut Özil, and Cenk Tosun (right) pose for a photo with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London, United Kingdom, May 13, 2018. (Photo: Anadolu Agency)
Footballers Ilkay Gündoğan (left), Mesut Özil, and Cenk Tosun (right) pose for a photo with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in London, United Kingdom, May 13, 2018. (Photo: Anadolu Agency)

In July, two months after taking the controversial photo with the Turkish president, Özil announced his retirement from international football, citing “racism and disrespect” he experienced because of the pictures.

Germany suffered a shock exit at the group stage of this summer’s FIFA World Cup in Russia, finishing bottom of their group for the first time in history.

Özil played 180 minutes during the tournament as the Germans lost both the games which he started.

“What I can’t accept are German media outlets repeatedly blaming my dual-heritage and a simple picture for a bad World Cup on behalf of an entire squad,” he wrote in a lengthy statement posted to his Twitter.

In the interview with Funke Mediengruppe, Erdogan said the footballer was right to walk away from the national team.

“Anyone confronting these kinds of racist attacks and insults would have had the same reaction.”

Relations between Berlin and Ankara remain strained due to German refuge to dissident Turks and Kurds as well as accusations of “Nazism and support for terrorists” leveled against Germany by Erdogan.