Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants the gray wolf badge to be used everywhere. The ambassador of Germany in Ankara was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey to give explanations after the initiation of an investigation by UEFA, as reported by the correspondent of SKAI in Istanbul. Manolis Kostidis.

It is about the incident in which Merih Demiral, a football player of the Turkish national team, was photographed after the second goal he managed to celebrate, forming with his fingers the symbol of the “Grey Wolves”. UEFA then opened a disciplinary investigation into the Turkish player’s “alleged indecent celebration”.

Responding to the above developments, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey stated:

“It is unacceptable that UEFA opened a disciplinary investigation against our national football player Merih Demiral after the football match played between our National Football Team and the Austrian National Football Team in the context of the 024 European Football Championship yesterday (July 2).

On the other hand, while the report published by the German Federal Agency for the Protection of the Constitution in September 2023 emphasized that not every person who makes the gray wolf sign can be characterized as a far-right extremist and while the “gray wolf” sign ” is not a banned symbol in Germany, the reactions shown to Mr. Demiral by the German authorities is xenophobia in itself.

We condemn politically motivated reactions to the use of a historical and cultural symbol in a way that does not target anyone during the celebration of a sporting event.”