Soccer star defends Erdogan photo
Quits German team, cites his Turkish roots
BERLIN• A dramatic announcement from one of Germany’ s biggest soccer stars that he was quitting the national team after being treated with “racism and disrespect” set off political uproar in the country on Monday.
Mesut Özil, who has played in Britain since 2013, was condemned by politicians from across the German political spectrum who accused him of betraying the country’s democratic values with his apparent public support for Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Özil, whose grandparents immigrated to Germany from Turkey, announced his immediate retirement from international soccer on Sunday night in a series of emotional tweets in which he claimed “If we win, I’m German. If we lose, I’m an immigrant.”
His claims were dismissed by Heiko Maas, the foreign minister, who said: “I don’t see what the case of a multimillionaire living and working in England tells you about integration in Germany.”
Germany’s most prominent politician of Turkish heritage accused Özil of letting down the immigrant community.
“I’m glad to say many German Turks living here support a democratic Turkey. Mesut Özil let them down as a role model,” Cem Özdemir of the Green Party said.
The row centres on Özil’s decision to pose alongside Erdogan and give him a signed Arsenal shirt during the Turkish president’s election campaign visit to London’s Turkish community in May.
The controversial pictures caused public outrage in Germany at a time when several German citizens were being held on political charges as part of Erdogan’s crackdown on free speech in Turkey.
Although I grew up in Germany, my roots are in Turkey,” Özil said Sunday. I have two hearts, one German and one Turkish. My mother taught me never to forget where I came from ... The photo with President Erdogan was not about politics but about respect for the highest office of my family’s country.”
The explanation was rejected by most German politicians.