German football star Mesut Ozil has been in middle of Turkey-Germany tensions, after facing criticism over his meeting with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday.
The president of Turkey posed with the Arsenal midfielder and the Manchester City star Ilkay Gundogan, during his state visit to Britain. The photographs were then tweeted by Turkey’s ruling AK Parti.
Cumhurba?kan?m?z Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, çe?itli temaslarda bulunmak üzere gitti?i ?ngiltere'nin ba?kenti Londra'da Premier Lig'de oynayan Türk futbolcu Cenk Tosun, Türk as?ll? futbolcu Mesut Özil ve Türk as?ll? futbolcu ?lkay Gündo?an'? kabul etti. pic.twitter.com/X3ZY8wwCsa
— AK Parti (@Akparti) May 14, 2018
This did not sit well in Germany, as Bundesliga president Reinhard Grindel criticised the football stars for participating in an 'election campaign stunt', a reference to the 24 June elections in Turkey.
“The German Football Association [DFB] of course respects the special situation for our players with migrant backgrounds, but football and the DFB stands for values that Mr Erdogan does not sufficiently respect. Therefore, it is not a good thing that our internationals have let themselves be exploited,” said Reinhard, quoted The Week.
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On the other hand, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) president Yildrim Demiroren defended the actions of Ozil and Gundogan saying, “It was very disturbing for me to read the tweets posted by the German Football Association president in his social media account, which includes detrimental statements about our President Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The DFB president's remarks are unacceptable,” quoted the Evening Standard.
“It is a very well-known fact that our President Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as a former player, is a big football fan who has massively contributed to the progress of the game in Turkey. In that sense, his meeting with Germany internationals Mesut Ozil and Ilkay Gundogan as well as Turkey international striker Cenk Tosun, who are all Germany-born professional footballers with Turkish descent, is only natural.”
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