Turkish Soccer Player Suspended From Euro Championship for Controversial Gesture Linked to Radical Fascist Group
Haaretz
Merih Demiral, who scored both goals in Turkey’s upset win versus Austria, has been suspended by UEFA for making a gesture associated with the Grey Wolves, a neo-fascist and Turkish-nationalist group that has carried out terror attacks and spread antisemitic conspiracies.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) has reportedly suspended Turkish national team defender Merih Demiral from the European Championship after he celebrated a goal with a gesture linked to the radical neo-fascist movement known as the Grey Wolves.
The UEFA disciplinary committee has decided to suspend Demiral, barring him from participating in the quarter-final match against the Netherlands on Saturday, and the semi-final if his team advances, according to the German newspaper Bild.
The Grey Wolves, a militant youth organization associated with Turkey’s far-right Nationalist Movement Party, espouses fascist, racist, and pan-Turkic, Islamo-nationalist ideologies.
The movement advocates for a Turkish state spanning from the Balkans in the west to China in the east. In the past, it translated and distributed Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” in Turkish and promoted anti-Jewish conspiracy theories like “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
Additionally, members of the organization were suspected of terrorist activities in the past, and the gesture made by Demiral was outlawed in several European countries.
In November, the organization released a video threatening Israeli athletes scheduled to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris. The video included images from the 1972 Munich Olympics and photos of the 11 Israeli athletes killed during those games, concluding with the word “Paris.”
Demiral’s two goals in Turkey’s 2-1 victory over Austria in the round of 16 placed him at the top of Turkey’s scoring charts at Euro 2024. His absence for the quarter-finals against the Netherlands is expected to complicate Turkey’s already challenging task. Demiral will only be eligible to return for the tournament if Turkey advances to the finals, following the completion of his suspension.